Wizards and the Mirror of Emulation (Book One, Year Two)
by TheAuthorJC
Summary: An elderly wizards brings the world back in time to restore it to it's rightful way. Ron Weasley meets a boy named Liam Clark through a mirror who is claiming to be exactly like Harry. The mirror brings both Ron and Liam's worlds together, having everyone from the first to fourth year confused.
1. Wizards and the Mirror of Emulation

_RETURN TO THE WORLD OF HARRY POTTER!_

_WITH DRAGONS, AND WIZARDS AND FUNNY LITTLE OBJECTS THAT MAY JUST LOOK LIKE A REGULAR THING TO YOU._

Wizards and the Mirror of Emulation (Book One)

Book One, Year Two

WIZARDS AND THE MIRROR ФF EMULATION:

YEAR TWO

BOOK ONE

- WHAT WOULD YOU DO -

IF YOU SAW SOMEONE ELSE THROUGH A MIRROR?

An elderly wizards brings the world back in time to restore it to it's rightful way. Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend, meets a boy named Liam Clark through a mirror who is claiming to be exactly like Harry. The mirror brings both Ron and Liam's worlds together, having everyone from the first to fourth year confused. However, the wise - and sometimes loony - Headmasters, Professor Albus Dumbledore and his fellow companion, Professor Fredrick Glumberry, explain that this is how the world should be liked and now that it is like this, some who believe that the Dark Lords Voldemort and Valindor are still alive think that they will reign again. But the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and Venus Sting, a crazy infamous fugitive, breaks out of jail, so the Dark Lords are of little concern with this in mind.

... Everyone knows the growing stories of Harry Potter. How he thwarted Quirell, killed the basilisk, helped his godfather escape Azkaban, how he saw the Dark Lord Voldemort return, destroy the prophecy of Voldemort's fate, learn about Tom Riddle's past and destroyed all seven Horcruxes defeating Voldemort forever. Little did he know of what wonders held within a mirror that brought him back in time to his second year back to where the Chamber of Secrets is to make things right without a single knowledge of his life before.


	2. The Other Boy

- CHAPTER ONE -  
>The Other Boy <p>

William Clark was a boy many remember in a world he partially knew.

Nobody remembered his appearance, that he had a mass of short, curly brown hair or Caspian Sea Blues eyes that were relatively like his father's. Neither did they remember his round, button nose his mother used to poke as a young baby, however, they still matched his father's. The only thing 'the people' could distinguish from his features was the thin lightning scar that hid away in his curls on his forehead.

He was a boy filled with such energy he was up to any adventure, and any adventure awaited him. Whether it was terrifying or boring, William was up for it, it just had to have the word 'adventure' and he'll jump to it like a fox.

'The people' also remembered his horrid experience last year. The world's scandal that shocked them all. A council member had been in alliance with the Dark Lord, Valindor. Nathan Donovan was also known by many, only he knew well of what he had been doing and attempted to kill William as it was right before his parents. But introductions of a poor boy should not include such terrible actions just as yet. But what else is there to talk about? One has to explain it all to have it well known.

Thomas and Angela Clark have a history that they mysteriously disappeared in thin air with the Dark Lord who gave little William the scar on his forehead. He's had it since one years old. Since then, William has been living as a boy owned by Andrew and Rosie Owen. Andrew was the brother of William's father and it turned out Andrew had changed surnames as William was given to him. Until a flying letter arrived and told William he'd been accepted to a school. Now, if you had a proper mind that thought letters were handed to someone by either another person or a mailbox, you would think that a flying letter is exceedingly odd.

That's exactly what dear William thought.

Yes indeed, a flying letter approached William, last year, accepting him to a school called Hogan. Now, if you were amongst the many who thought a flying letter was a normal thing, you would also know what Hogan is. Yes, you're quite right, Hogan is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Would that mean dear William is a wizard, you ask? As a matter of fact, it does.

Ah, the fine life of a wizard. Where letters fly and tell - yes, they talk - little eleven year olds that they have been accepted to a school. Where shoes sprout wings and fly. Where owls are messenger birds, even pets, and not some weird feather-decorated animal that can turn its head a good three sixty degrees. The smell of a cooking potion in a cauldron. The feel of a feathered quill scribbling across a fresh piece of parchment. If you've experienced any of that, you're most likely a wizard.

But not to worry, being a wizard is rather reassuring, really. Why, with the flick of a wand your untidy mess of a room would be cleared up in seconds. And if you don't have a car one could simply travel by shoes or broom.

Again, yes, William Clark was indeed a wizard. One cannot say whether he took it well or not because he was losing his mind for a while, then was okay with it moments later. He had spent a full year knowing that his parents were actually his uncle and aunt and that his real parents were restrained somewhere nobody knew. Everyone made him believe his parents were dead except for one man. Nathan Donovan thought his parents more alive than some of the people living today. At first, Nathan Donovan acted as William's friend. But he began to show some signs of hatred. He brought up an Ayers challenge where the champion team does not only win the honour of being best team, they will win a cup awarded by him.

By then, William was sorted into Scorpiosting, the house he really didn't want to be sorted in. Scorpiosting was the green house and it has been rumoured that their students usually turned out dark wizards, and William didn't want to become a dark wizard. Wolverhampton, a crooked nosed, sleeked haired teacher who William considered a dragon, lead William to his parents with whom he said Donovan had imprisoned there. But when their opportunity to know the truth came - William had asked his parents who had done it - Thomas and Angela had the slightest idea of who had done it.

So he continued his challenge Donovan had prepared. The Ayers Challenge was a challenge people would have remembered as a good sporty game, but Donovan added a twist. Many of you would have asked yourselves what Ayers is. No need to crack a reference book open because you won't find it there. Ayers is a sporting game consisting of twelve players. Two are shooters, one can only shoot with a ball called the Runner, and is therefore called the Runner Shooter, and the other can only shoot with a ball called the base, and is therefore called the Base Shooter.

The player on the other side guarding their post is the Keeper, not too difficult to remember, it happens to be the same for most sports. The remaining nine players are the Batters and the Fielders. Four Batters to hit away the Beaters that are balls that can knock a player sideways, and five Fielders all of whom hit and pass the base around so that they can get it to the Base Shooter. There are five balls in this game. The biggest and hardest of the lot are the Beaters.

There are three in the match and have to be remarkably hard in order to knock a player out of balance in one attempt. There a three Beaters in a match and they all have a mind of its own, targeting any player in the match and is as big and ten times harder than a bowling ball. The Base is as big as a small volleyball. It is the ball that the Fielders try get to the Base Shooter in order for him to score. The smallest and fastest of the few is the Runner. Why it's called the Runner is because it is exceedingly fast and has to be caught by the Runner Shooter so he can score with it. The Runner is as big as a hockey ball and is good to throw with.

The whole game is airborne, one has to be wearing Ayers flying shoes in order to play the game. The Runner Shooter is possibly the hardest role in the game. There are three posts in the game. The smallest is the Minnie, the post that is about twenty five feet from the ground and is worth fifty points if both the Runner and the Base is shot in it. The second tallest is the Medio, the one about fifty feet from the ground and is worth fifty if the base is shot through it and one hundred if the Runner is shot through it. The tallest one is the Soarer. It is so tall nobody knows the height of it unless one were to personally fly up there themselves. Though, there's no guarantee that person is going to come back alive.

There are only two people who have ever reached that post, internationally and scholarly. Peter Plaise, the international British Runner Shooter. He is the best Runner Shooter in Britain and plays for the Whisking Woodpeckers. He shot through the Soarer during a dire match were the Whisking Woodpeckers were losing terribly to the Dashed Chargers and he was sent to hospital to defrost. After that heroic shot, the Woodpeckers won by a good hundred. If a Base is shot through the Soarer, two hundred points, but if a Runner is shot through the Soarer, it's five fifty points.

Now that you're quite clear of what exactly Ayers is, Donovan watched William triumph in the games and he told him he'd rather swap houses than to win some mysterious prize by him. A wise professor, who happens to the Headmaster of Hogan, Fredrick Glumberry, accepted his offer and placed him in his true house: Phoenixdan, the red house with his friends.

Donovan wanted the opportunity to give William his prize, and that was a prize that was meant to kill him. However, his parent wouldn't let that happen. Donovan was killed, not sent to Kazaban ( a wizarding prison ). He was buried and shun by everyone, and William was forced to forget it. He was forced to forget the face that nearly killed him; the extremely handsome face; the five o'clock shadow; the exceedingly friendly-looking comb-over; but his pair of piercing black eyes is what fooled everyone of his innocence. And forgetting him only happened with his parents taking him on a trip for the holidays.

The one thing he liked most of the holidays is that he was able to team up against his mother, Angela Clark, with his father, Thomas Clark, who pulled all sorts of pranks on her. He told him pranking was a natural talent he and his friends did at school. He even mentioned that his mother's brother was one of them, only she gave him a look that said don't-you-even-dare-bring-that-up.

The reason it's a sore subject is because Mrs Clark's brother died and she never spoke of it. Not a single mention of her maiden name or her brother's name, she would always change the subject or find another place when the subject was in session. On the other hand, William had stepbrothers of which were under the care foster parents whose names he knew nothing of. Benjamin and Jason were his step brothers. Ben was a year young than him and was starting Hogan. Jason was now entering his fourth year.

He was sleeping at that time. He never really did like flying to a place. For a boy who was always in it for an adventure, he was terrified of heights, Ayers is an exception, he felt oddly free when he was playing. Brazil. He loved it but the trip wasn't as fun as spending it with his real parents. The Clarks are extremely rich. William never knew how they got so much from their job, they were doctors and not wizarding doctors. They preferred living the life as Muggles rather than wizards and they made sure William spent his time as one until they returned to Hogan. For whatever reason that is, he couldn't understand but he knew it wasn't very wise to ask.

Returning home was another thing he wanted to happen. Despite missing his friends Callum and Tessa, his house was one he found very interesting. He knew it as long as he knew his real parents. It was a five story mansion that was stationed in the Muggle world. On the top floor was a large attic William never saw and never wondered what was in there. On the second one from the top was Mr Clark's office. That's where he did all his extra work away from being a doctor. William never knew what Mr Clark had done other than a doctor but he never asked. On the third, all the bedrooms and extra rooms and bathrooms were there. Other than the two Thomas, Angela and William used, there were three bathrooms a hall of extra bedrooms for guest. More than ten guest rooms were on that floor and Mr and Mrs Clark's were at the end of the hall.

The Clark family car was probably the only magical thing William ever met at the Clark Mansion, other than the requirements he had gotten for school. The car can shape into any car one wanted it to with a touch of their hand. But the car Mr Clark was most taken with was a 1934 Chevrolet Master which made William feel as though 1992 was lost in the nineteenth century.

The Clark Mansion has a butler. Samuel Lachlan was apparently there ever since William was a little boy. Sam was a dumpy young man, he had the strange facial appearance of a cute mouse which William found funny. That was what they first saw when they walked into the Clark Mansion.

'Dinner's ready, Masters,' said Sam.

'Sammy, how many times do I have to tell you?' Mr Clark asked half-laughing, 'It's not masters, you can just call us Thomas,' he pointed at himself, 'Angela,' he pointed at his wife, 'and little Clark Junior,' he ruffled Liam's hair who began to blush; he'd never been called Junior until now.

'Liam, dear,' called Mrs Clark, 'why don't you go unpack and we'll call you down for dinner.' He smiled at his mother, the thought of having his actual mother beside him made him feel good. He nodded and took his bag up the stairs. 'You know where your bedroom is, don't you?'

'I'll find it,' said William. 'Thanks mum.'

He'd stepped in the place once and never saw his room. His parents packed everything before they went off to Brazil. It wasn't a very long trip, they'd left for a maximin of five days and came back a day before his birthday. Other than Clark Junior, William was called Liam, or 'Will' if people really wanted to annoy him. His friends rather snapped at anyone who called him Will so he had no need to.

Callum Thompson lived in a family almost as rich as them but in a much larger family. The twins, Charlie and Richard, were always up to something that would get them into trouble but never really does. Callum, comes after and he's as sane and as adventurous as Liam. Then came his little sister, Olivia, who never liked to talk to anyone unless she wanted to. They all had black hair and eyes, from the dad, Tony, to the mom, Danielle.

Tessa Williams's father, Winter, worked at the Ministry of Magic, Liam was unsure where just yet. But it seemed he, his wife Dominick and Tessa always had the sharpest eyes. All three of them had the most striking grass green golden eyes Liam was sure was somehow made from the sun; they always stood out whether one was looking at them or not. Either way, Liam was unsure where Tessa had gotten her red hair from both her parents had a distinct brown colour to their hair, but she had long curls of red reaching her shoulders. She was a bookworm and never really managed to catch Callum and Liam's attention by just her knowledge of books, they usually were bored to death.

Still, he couldn't wait to see the both of them again.


	3. Talking to Hedwig

CHAPTER TWO

Talking to Hedwig

Hedwig was an owl belonging to a boy named Harry Potter and Harry Potter wasn't any usual boy. Unless you count usual boys were ones with wands, flying broomsticks and enchanted books that may talk, scream, yell and contain moving pictures. And one would only wonder why an eleven year old ( not yet twelve ) year old boy would have an owl hanging around a cage in his room. Hedwig was a gift to him from a giant he knew named Hagrid. The largest person Harry's ever seen, no doubt. Hedwig woke Harry up early in the morning. He managed to retrieve the mail and steal away the newspaper article because he figured it was as close to fun as anything here.

Privet Drive was the house he lived in. His piggish bully of a cousin and his just as sane parents treated him like some incurable disease. They disliked him mainly because he was _'unusual' _and used magic. They disliked him because he was the son of his Aunt Petunia's 'freak' sister. So he disliked them just as much. The newspaper article was the most fun thing to do when you're up in your room most of the time with nothing else to do. Uncle Vernon took anything Harry got from his first year at Hogwarts and locked them away in a closest downstairs. He just wished Hogwarts came closer, he wished he wasn't part of this side of the family – except for his mother, of course.

The article was very interesting, he thought. The most interesting news he'd ever read all year. Most of the time he'd read about something the Muggle Prime Minster doing something he didn't bother to care about. The article was about a jail breaker, and a jail breaker seriously was the finest thing he'd read or done so far.

**_JAIL BREAKER OF A DECADE, VENUS STING_**

_We have not had a jailbreak in over a decade and Venus Sting seems to slip through the cracks as easy as that. Venus Sting is a mass murderer; he was locked up for killing a maximum of over a hundred victims somewhere in London less than a decade ago. He was spotted somewhere in the countryside yesterday afternoon, lurking about looking for something. When the police spotted him he made a quick and easy escape, there's no guarantee he'll be caught any time soon. So we do advise parents keep their children indoors at all costs. _

Harry wondered why anyone in Privet Drive would even bother, this mass murderer was lurking about the countryside and Privet Drive was nowhere near London. He folded the newspaper and tucked it away, only to hear his uncle yelling at the top of his voice from downstairs.

'Shut that bird up of yours, boy!'

He hadn't noticed, Hedwig had been hooting louder than Uncle Vernon's cackling voice. However, Harry could not care less. _It's his fault he doesn't want to let her out! Serves him right, serves them all right! _The whole day, in fact, Hedwig kept hooting and hooting and Harry just let her. Uncle Vernon didn't seem bothered, he had the television boosted up so loud.

_ 'I said … _shut that bird up!' said Uncle Vernon finally, racking away at Harry's locked door. 'Shut it up, or I'll wring it in the neck till the three sixty degrees runs its limit off.'

'You're seriously going to _kill _a bird?' asked Harry, not even bothering to get off of his bed.

'Whatever it takes for that blasted bird to shut up!' snapped Uncle Vernon.

'I'm not going to do anything,' said Harry, he was grinning at Hedwig whose hooting became softer. 'Besides, it's your fault you don't want to let her outside.'

'Oh no!' yelled Uncle Vernon. 'I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work! Not with me, anyway! No, no, no, you're going to keep that bird away from _normal _civilisation, you hear me!'

'Whatever you say,' said Harry, he stood to stroke Hedwig. 'Of course, it's not going to stop her from hooting even more.'

'Don't try!' snapped Uncle Vernon. 'I'll be downstairs and I better not hear that stupid owl of yours over the television!'

'You won't,' said Harry, continuing to stroke Hedwig. 'Not that I care.' Hedwig let out a hoot of glee which Harry found particularly enjoyable.

Hedwig was the only real thing that kept him company all holiday, not a single letter came from Hermione or Ron since he lead off the Hogwarts Express to Privet Drive. He wondered whether they'd remember to send him a letter tomorrow, it was going to be his birthday and he expected at least a letter from the both of them, nothing else. Then again, he'd be used to it if he never got anything, the Dursleys didn't even bother remembering his birthday. For the past eleven years, his birthday was no more important than a pile of dirt to the Dursleys. Not once did they celebrate it. The closest Harry thought would be to celebrating his birthday was receiving a load of letters to Hogwarts and moving to some small house out at sea, which had happened last year.

Harry sat on his bed with the newspaper rolled up beside him, then he glanced over at Hedwig smiling at the only birthday gift he ever received in his life. He thought of what he was going to do today. _Not step a foot outside, _he thought. He supposed he might encounter Dudley who might just decide on doing a punching session. Nonetheless, he was soon going to grow hungry, however, he thought he'll only go and eat something when he knew the Dursleys weren't downstairs.

'BOY!' called Uncle Vernon. His yelling was louder than the television itself, Harry wouldn't have been surprised if the neighbours came with the police to shut him up. 'BOY! COME DOWN HERE!'

'I wonder what he wants, eh, Hedwig?' he sat silently on his bed as though waiting for Hedwig to answer. He knew, of course, that she couldn't speak but he was so bored he'd try anything. He got up, levelled his shirt and slipped on a pair of old, worn out shoes. Making his way to the door, he unlocked it and lagged down the stairs to the lounge where Uncle Vernon had been on a couch crunching down a packet of crisps fixed on the television to a point where he didn't notice Harry.

'BOY! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME!'

'I'm right here!' snapped Harry; Uncle Vernon craned his head toward Harry with a large smile on his face which he found very odd. 'Finally decided to smile, I see,' said Harry.

'C'mere! C'mere!' called Uncle Vernon. He was motioning Harry to walk beside him. Once Harry did, Uncle Vernon cranked up the volume of the television and told Harry to watch.

_'… Venus Sting, mass murderer and jail breaker, was spotted this morning in the countryside of London searching for something unknown. He managed to breach a road leading to a mansion only he lost the track of it once an elite squad of police officers went to track him down and bring him back. Sting, however, managed to slip through the cracks and escape our officers once again. Sting carries a gun which he uses very well, so in case of any danger, please keep all children, babies and yourselves from stepping foot outside. Sting may pop up from anywhere. We are currently unsure where Sting is hiding now, but there's not guarantee he'll be caught very soon.'_

That was a report made by a female muggle whom Harry found the slightest bit appealing; she looked uptight and extremely thin in the pantsuit she wore; her hair was pulled back into a tight knot and her crooked-nosed, warty face side-tracked him from the report. Uncle Vernon kept tugging on the hem of his sleeve, throwing him a menacing smile that made him look like a distorted seal.

'I give _you _permission to play outside,' said Uncle Vernon. 'Don't bother coming back in until that loony gunman shows up.'

'And what if he doesn't show?' asked Harry acidly. 'Am I supposed to sleep on the grass, now?'

'I don't care.'

'Well, I think the neighbours do,' said Harry. 'They'd be wondering why an eleven year old boy is sleeping on the grass of his house.'

'Whatever,' snapped Uncle Vernon. 'Go back to your room!'

It didn't come as much of a surprise for Uncle Vernon to want him in the grasp of a murderer, which was probably what came into his thick mind every time Harry crossed it. Harry slumped back to his room, locked the door and fell on top of his bed. Hedwig wasn't hooting madly anymore, she stood in her cage staring at her owner whilst he scanned the ceiling for something to do. Harry snapped. He'd never felt like this before. Rejected … excluded. Well, he has, but it was never as bad as it was now.

'Hedwig,' Harry said. She hooted, 'do you ever wish that you had some other family that would accept you and not want you dead every other day?' he asked her, she hooted once more but Harry scoffed. He was talking to his bird.

'I do,' he said. 'I wish I had family where we'd spend some time with each other, where no one bothered about me having to use magic when I'm off at Hogwarts. Family that celebrated your birthday, family that gave you gifts even if it _wasn't _your birthday. I wish I was accepted as a nephew, not some 'freak' who can use magic.'

'Sometimes I wish I wasn't so alone,' he said, still staring at the ceiling. 'I wish I didn't have to lie on my bed every single ruddy day. It just gets boring, if you know what I mean.' He sat up and lay against his pillows, staring at the door now. 'My birthday's tomorrow, Hedwig. I'm hoping something will come from Ron or Hermione. Then again, they haven't been writing to me all holiday. Still, it's nice to keep my hopes up.' With that, he closed his eyes picturing a letter from Ron and Hermione.


	4. Twelve Candles

CHAPTER THREE

Twelve Candles

_'… Venus Sting, mass murderer and jail breaker, was spotted this morning in the countryside of London searching for something unknown. He managed to breach a road leading to a mansion only he lost the track of it once an elite squad of police officers went to track him down and bring him back. Sting, however, managed to slip through the cracks and escape our officers once again. Sting carries a gun which he uses very well, so in case of any danger, please keep all children, babies and yourselves from stepping foot outside. Sting may pop up from anywhere. We are currently unsure where Sting is hiding now, but there's not guarantee he'll be caught very soon.'_

That news report ruined the rest of his holiday. Liam was a boy who loved to be outside but Venus Sting ruined his whole holiday. Especially because his parents had thought the mansion Sting came close to was the mansion they lived in because his manor was in the countryside of London. The reason he loved being outside was because, not only was the manor itself an adventure, but the outside had so many gardens that he hadn't yet explored. His father even told him that there had been a large park behind their house and that he and Liam had to go there before he went off the Hogan again. Of course, that had been before the news report came, so his chances of going there were thwarted.

On the other hand, he woke up to the smell of sizzling bacon and a strong scent of eggs and toast. He followed that scent down to the kitchen where his mother had prepared a very special breakfast without even making himself look descent. His father snuck up on him and prodded him on either side of his body, hauling him over his back where Liam tried to blind him. Mrs Clark rolled her eyes, no matter what the age her husband was such a child. Finally, after a long going time of trying to make his father walk into the breakfast table, Mr Clark put his son down who went a very distinct red and was giggling until he ran out of breath.

'Morning, Liam,' said his mother. 'You clearly had a good sleep or else you wouldn't have tried to make your father fall over.'

'Or he tried to attack me because he thought I was some intruder,' joked Mr Clark.

'I'm not stupid, dad, I know when it's you and when it's not,' said Liam. 'For instance, robbers don't prod children in the sides of their body before snatching them.'

'Hey, did you even bother to neaten yourself up?' asked Mr Clark.

'One thing you should know about your son, he will stop at nothing until he finds out what that delicious smell is,' said Liam. 'And I'm still wondering what that is.'

'Ah,' said his mother, 'that, is your special birthday breakfast. And we'll be taking you to get something to eat later for lunch, and I've prepared a special dinner as well. This is a special day, isn't it? The first birthday you'll be spending with us since you were a little child.'

'Yeah,' said Liam. He smiled at that, 'and I can't wait.'

'Well then, why don't you go take a shower and change and come back down here?' said Mr Clark, prodding him again, which wasn't sure and was rather ticklish. 'Everything'll be done by then.'

'OK.'

It took no longer than ten minutes for Liam to bath, change and race downstairs; he was too excited to spend the birthday with his parents for over a decade. He'd gotten them back a couple of weeks ago and already felt that he belonged with them, his real parents. Though, once or twice, he'd think about his aunt and uncle whom he had no idea what had happened to ever since his real parents came about. The smell of breakfast was more than satisfying; in fact it lingered through the large manor and stayed there until Liam was in the middle of it.

'Any dreams last night, Liam?' asked Mr Clark.

'Not any including outside,' said Liam. 'Why's it, again, that I can't go outside. What if I needed to practice, I don't know, Ayers.' He knew clearly why he couldn't go outside but thought he might get the right to by reasoning with his parents. Which was a fat chance considering that the history behind Thomas and Angela Clark, Tessa told him, was that they could get anybody out of trouble, including themselves.

'You know why,' said Mr Clark. His tone wasn't anywhere near upset, he actually grew a smile. 'There's a large chance of some physco wizard blowing your head off.'

'THOMAS!' snapped his wife. She couldn't believe he had said that and Liam couldn't figure out why, she must've thought it would've scared him.

'Wait, Sting's a wizard?' asked Liam.

'Yup!' said Mr Clark, a mouthful of chewed eggs and bacon. He gulped down his food as soon as he saw the scathing look his wife gave him. 'Escaped from Kazaban two days ago. The Wizard world caught Intel as soon as he did. Unlike this muggle prison, Kazaban's never had a jail breaker, ever. It's physically, mentally and logically impossible.'

'Well it can't be impossible if Sting's managed,' said Liam. 'Who is he, anyway?'

Mr Clark's smile whipped clean off his face and then he glanced at his hand and muttered, 'Err – I don't know. Must have been a Scorpiosting student in my year. Name rings a bell, though.'

'Right, because Scorpiosting students most likely end up in jail when they grow older,' said Liam, gulping down a mouthful of food. 'Can't wait till I see Dmitri and her tormenter brother, Adrian, behind bars when I grow up, I'll be on the other side laughing my head off.'

'Adrian and Dmitri?' asked Mrs Clark. 'Aren't those two Luca and Piper's twins. They're at Hogan.'

'Bloody Scorpiostings, mum, hate the lot of them, them and their group of thick cronies,' said Liam sourly.

'WILLIAM!'

'What?'

'You're so much like your father,' she said and threw a scathing look at Mr Clark once more.

'What?' said Mr Clark.

'No manners, any of you,' said Mrs Clark.

'Hey, you hate Luca and Piper as much as I do,' said Mr Clark. 'And I'm sure their children are just as mean as they are.'

'Doesn't mean we have to be rude about it,' she stood from her seat and took their empty plates to kitchen.

Mr Clark waited for her to leave to say, 'She really hates them on the inside.' Liam grew a large smile, holding in the fact that he wanted to laugh his head off. 'No really, she _really _hates them. They made her eat a pie, once, it was filled with crickets and all. Ever since, she hated the scaly bunch even now.'

Luca and Piper McElroy were the parents of the pair of Scorpiosting twelve year olds Liam hated most. Although Liam's never met or seen Piper, he surely could not forget Luca. Not with his silver-streaked, blonde hair plopped on top of a head belonging to a short face man with eyes twinkling silver giving him the look of a power-stricken hawk.

Nor would he forget the appearance of the twins, Dmitri and Adrian. Adrian was most nasty in his attitude; he had thundercloud grey eyes and brown-streaked blonde hair. His sister, Dmitri, had misty blue eyes and blonde-streaked brown hair. But there was one distinguishing part of their appearance of both of them that made them look more alike than their parents. They both had pale, short, pointed faces with a pointed nose.

Their family claims to be richer than the Clarks but Liam didn't believe it one bit. If his parents were to convert all their muggle money to wizard money, they'd be richer than the McElroys by a good couple thousands. Nevertheless, the McElroys never cared, they just boasted all the time about their lifestyle, not only because they were rich, but because they were _Purebloods _and Purebloods apparently were more 'important' than all the other blood statuses. All because they were the proper race of wizards, they think they could go around feeling high and mighty because they have not a single touch of Muggle blood in them.

All Liam had to do was think that they're no better than any of them, because they were all still wizard either way. Whether Muggle-born, Half-blood or Pureblood, they were all able to cast magic from a wand. Then again, he never did care whether the McElroys acts got them shunned for the rest of their life, they were all equally nasty, even though he's never met Piper who he pictured was a taller and older version of Dmitri.

The rest of the day, they went to the city to get some lunch and Mr and Mrs Clark had asked what present Liam wanted. He said having them around was gift enough but they said they weren't leaving without a present. So he settled with a pair of new sneakers, although he wanted the newest addition of Ayers flying shoes that Callum had told him about in a letter he received from Shadow.

Shadow was and owl and the first gift his parents ever got Liam. Not by hand, though. A friend of his father's, Daniel Parks, was left with some money by Mr and Mrs Clark when they were still lost. With that money, Daniel bought an owl for Liam's birthday and he decided to call him shadow because he was a pearl white bird with blotches of black across its whole body, one Liam liked the best was the one that painted the area where Shadow's right eye was.

Daniel was the first wizard Liam had ever met face-to-face. He was sent to protect Liam whilst he was looked after by his Aunt Rosie and Uncle Andrew. He'd been warned about a type of Dark being coming after Liam and was ordered to be by Liam's side twenty four seven. He was Thomas's friend but he never went to Hogan, he went to a wizarding school situated in Spain, Windeloú.

The Ayers shoes were the fastest addition yet to be made and were super expensive so Mr and Mrs Clark told Liam they weren't able to buy it. Though he didn't mind, the pair he had were pretty fast when airborne.

They returned home for Mrs Clark's surprise dinner which was actually a really big ice-cream cake she'd prepared the night before. Liam had about three helpings when his stomach couldn't handle anymore. Mr Clark had about the same and the pair of them sunk in their chairs fulfilled with various ice-cream flavours mixed with the softest, most tasty sponge cake Liam had ever tasted. He didn't know his mother was such a great cook, but now that he did, he knew he'd never turn down a single dish she had to offer. Mr Clark let out a loud belch of satisfaction; Liam laughed and attempted to beat his father. Mrs Clark rolled her eyes and stood for the kitchen.

'The two of you.'

The telephone rung. Mrs Clark wended her way to it and told Mr Clark it was for him but Mr Clark said, 'Who ever it is calling, tell them I'm busy with my son, thank you very much. Ask them to leave a message and I'll get back to them later.' Liam was happy to know his father would rather spend time with him that talk to one of his friends – or whoever was on the phone. However, he couldn't help feeling a jolt of depression.

'What's up, Junior?' asked his father. He loved it when his father called him that, it made him feel like a mini Thomas Clark who, to most people of the wizard world, was a type of hero.

'I wish I had someone my age to hang with,' said Liam. 'It's not that I don't like hanging around you and mum, I love that, it's – well – you're not going to have much time for me, are you? I mean, you have a whole floor dedicated to your office. I don't want to be in the middle of your work, I'll be disrupting you. I wish I can have someone my age that I can be free with, someone I can share stuff I wouldn't want you or mum to know about. Like a – like a brother, more or less.'

'Look, Junior,' his father started with hearty smile on his face, 'I'm not just your father, I'm sort of like your biggest friend in the world. Yeah, I might disagree with your decisions but I'll always be there for you. Hell, you can commit a murder and I wouldn't even blow my top. Your mother will go ballistic but I'll be there backing you up. That is, if I gain the effort to be brave against when she's in dragon mode,' Mr Clark and Liam broke into a choir of laughs that made Mrs Clark look over her shoulder sceptically whilst on the phone. 'Don't tell your mother I ever said that.'

'OK.'

'Look, my point is,' the two of them calmed down, 'I might not always be there but, I'll never get too angry about something. I'll never shout at you for a mistake you've made, even if it's a warning to have you thrown out of school. I wouldn't even tell Angela, if that's what you want. Like in a wedding, I'll be with you till death do us part. And as far as I'm concerned, there's not a single wizard or muggle I know that would want to kill me specially. I'll be that brother you're looking for.'


	5. Sting and Clark

CHAPTER FIVE

Sting and Clark

Liam woke up feeling incredibly sour; he still wasn't allowed to go outside. His chances were thin, either way, whether Venus Sting was on the loose on not; it had been raining and Mrs Clark surely didn't want mud tracked into the house. Or her son getting sick, because the Clarks were doctors, Liam didn't even want to see the outcome of that if it did come along. He loved drawing but never found it anywhere fun to going outside, the main reason of that was he could barely draw a proper picture without making it look like a troll. But it seemed as though it were the only thing to do as Mr Clark was upstairs in his office and Mrs Clark was preparing dinner. That had to be her main priority, other than being a doctor, cooking had to be the one and only thing Mrs Clark did.

Liam felt as though he was going to stay there the whole day, parked on a chair, with a pencil in hand that was progressively shortening, scratching on a piece of paper until his picture looked like a dog's breakfast. That was, until he heard his mother call for him from downstairs. Slipping on a woolly jumper and straitening his hair, because he knew for a fact his mother would snap at him if he was caught wearing a short sleeved shirt on a rainy day like this, even if it was as hot as a sauna, Liam descended the stairs to the landing that had an incredibly tall bookshelf standing against the wall, then down another flight of stairs to the kitchen where his mother had been.

His mother had been listening to the news, probably waiting for another news report of Venus Sting. She hadn't noticed Liam was there which was probably why she changed the radio station to a pop station where a song had made her exuberantly swerve on the spot – almost making the cooking mushrooms in the pan bounce – and spin around, abruptly stopping once spotting Liam there, who looked awfully mortified. Her cheeks were flushing red; Liam's were going pink.

'Don't think I wanted to see that,' he said to his mother, 'I might just gag any moment, now.'

'I'm not bad,' said Mrs Clark.

'Yeah,' said Liam vulgarly, 'at ballroom dancing and exotic Mexican and Spanish dances. You didn't make me take those lessons in Brazil for nothing, did you?'

'You ripped my dress, I wouldn't be talking if I were you,' said Mrs Clark.

Liam scoffed. 'Why'd you call me down – and I thought there were three residents in this home,' said Liam, watching his mother bring out five plates. 'We're not having a banquet, are we?'

'Please,' his mother jeered, 'a banquet wouldn't fit on five plates.'

'Then why're you setting out _five plates_?'

'Because, your father told me about how you wanted to have a type of brother around and I thought, what better way to have fun when you're an only child with your friends?' said Mrs Clark. Liam had no idea where his mother had been going with this. 'So – I owled Winter to ask whether Tessa's free and then Tony to ask if Callum was too.'

'Still don't get where you're going with this.' He couldn't think, his mind was so full of his revolting drawings that he couldn't remember what he'd been talking about to his mother just then.

'They're coming over, is it not clear?'

'Oh.' He felt stupid.

'Aren't you happy – I thought you'd be happy – should I have not done that?' his mother rained.

'No, no, I'm happy,' said Liam. 'Just feeling completely stupid all the same.'

The doorbell rang.

'That must be them right now,' said Mrs Clark taking a cloth and whipping her hands. 'The Thompsons will be dropping them both off, I suppose it's just Tony.'

'Or Christine – I mean, Mrs Thompson,' said Liam.

'Yeah, or her,' said Mrs Clark. She disappeared from sight and Liam followed her. The doorbell rang again and Mrs Clark opened the door to Tony Thompson with red-haired Tessa Williams and his son, Callum Thompson by their shoulders.

'Angie! How wonderful it is to see you once again!' said Mr Thompson. Mr Thompson was a lean man who worked in the Ministry. Like his son, he'd had black hair and a pair of beady black eyes that seemed to go along with his pointed nose. Callum, in fact, looked more of his father than any of his brothers or his one sister, Olivia.

'Hello, Tony, would you like to come in for a cup of tea?' asked Mrs Clark.

'Rain check?' asked Mr Thompson. 'Sorry, got to run. McGillagan's off his rocker, today. Said if I wasn't back in the next hour, he'd have me sent to the gallows. Not that I believe he knows where to find some, those things were stripped down years ago.' Callum and Tessa were shunted into the manor turning to face Mr Thompson who stood out in the rain. 'Behave, Callum. Tessa, I'll owl Winter and tell him you made it safe.'

'Dad, I'm not Charlie and Richard!'

'Well, visit on Christmas,' said Mr Thompson. 'Mrs Clark's dropping you off at school. Don't get into a load of trouble or your mother will have a fit.'

'Dad! I get it!'

'All right, I'm off.' Mr Thompson turned and darted for his flying car. 'Enjoy!'

Mrs Clark shut the door and locked it, as soon as he did and Callum was absolutely sure his father had driven his car out the iron gates and into the air, he said, 'Nutter, my father, really.'

'Well, I'll leave you three to your own business,' said Mrs Clark. 'Dinner's ready in a bit.'

She left the three by the door where they'd made off to the stairs and into Liam's room. They were superbly impressed; his room was large enough for five beds. It fitted one large one flanked by bedside tables and was against a wall with posters of Ayers international teams that Tessa had rolled her eyes at.

'Whoa –' said Callum wending his way toward the bed where above it was the most glistening poster of all, 'is that a limited edition Hurricanes poster of and signed by the team? Where'd you get this, dad says they're not out yet?'

'Dunno,' said Liam. 'Most of the stuff here came when I did. That just showed up on my wall when I got back from Brazil.'

'Callum, get off his bed!' snapped Tessa at Callum who'd been watching as Callum gaped at the limited edition poster. Callum slipped off Liam's bed and Tessa turned to face Liam. 'So, how was your birthday?'

'It was OK,' answered Liam. Tessa stared at him expecting more than that.

'C'mon, there's got to be more to it,' she said, 'I mean, it _was _the first birthday you've spent with your parents since one years old.'

'Yeah, and they disappeared three months later only to find that they'd been kept by Valindor and Donovan for over ten years,' said Liam ignoring the fact that Tessa and Callum winced at the name of the Dark Lord.

Eleven years ago, when Liam was one, his parents supposedly died by the hand of the Dark Lord Valindor who mysteriously disappeared. However, that only happened once Valindor tried to kill Liam but lost his powers instead. Liam escaped with the lightning scar on his forehead. Then last year, when putting his outmost trust in a man, Nathan Donovan, who tried to kill him later on, he found that his parents were actually held captive by the devote follower of Lord Valindor. He hated that man and was happy enough that he killed himself. Although, he'd be terribly frightened if he knew he'd somehow rose from the dead.

'So,' said Liam, desperately wanting to get off the topic of that ghastly man, 'what d'you guys want to do.'

'We can try and sneak outside, it's only drizzling,' said Callum. 'Maybe we can help you practice for Ayers.'

'No, my dad's afraid that Sting person's going to pop up and blast my head off,' said Liam doubtfully, 'and don't you think my parents would realise that there are three children up in the air throwing balls at each other?'

'Oh,' said Callum, 'right.'

'We could always read a book,' suggested Tessa, holding one she'd wedged between her arms aloft. Liam and Callum looked at her, eyebrows furrowed. 'Or not.'

'Don't you have an attic?' asked Callum. 'We could find something to do in there, maybe.'

'Yeah, I do –'

'Are you even allowed in the attic?' asked Tessa.

'Y-yeah – of course – it's like my second room,' said Liam. Tessa gave him a look that told him she was not convinced. 'All right, I'm not sure, it was when I was at my aunt and uncle's – look, I'm sure there's nothing to hide in the attic, it'll be fine if we sneak in.'

Tessa just rolled her eyes but Liam ignored it and had Callum follow behind him. The three of them ascended the stairs to the fourth floor where a door hung at the end like the floor below them. Callum, assuming that was their way into the attic, strolled forward but had Liam pulling him back by the hem of his shirt.

'Not there, you twit, that's my dad's office!' said Liam in more of a whisper.

'Hey, who you calling a twit?' bellowed Callum.

'_Shut up!' _hissed Liam. 'Again, dad's office, he doesn't like being disturbed when it comes to his work!'

'This is a pretty desolate hall for his office,' brought up Tessa.

'Yeah, he likes it secretive,' said Liam. 'He's got a bloody floor to himself. Charmed the door so the person would find themselves somewhere else if they didn't already know what was on the other side.'

'Why?'

'Dunno,' said Liam, shrugging. 'I suppose he's got some pretty disgusting stuff in there. The next morning we arrive home, he came down to breakfast drenched in some green slime and stinking of something I don't even want to know about – c'mon, I'm pretty sure he heard Callum.'

With that, they ascended another flight of stairs until they came to a door that was parked right in front of them once on the fifth floor landing. The door was hidden within the wall, it was the knob that gave it away. Liam turned the knob and opened it to the dark room where some areas were lit up by a small window embedded on the wall too high to reach. There was a mass of dust lurking about the air which gave the impression that this place wasn't visited in a long time (they supposed Mr Very-Secretive Clark should have come here the instant they came home).

The light from outside dimly lit the attic. They saw that every bit of the walls was lined with shelves seating not only books, but files, jars of things they could not see (from a thick blanket of dust around each one of them) and funny instruments that may have moved from one moment to another. There had been a boarded up fireplace where the shelves did not manage to cover but it looked just as dusty as the jar. In the middle of the room was a large table piled up with things the three of them had and had not seen at the same time: untidy piles of books, full and empty ink bottles, a microscope, some more funny instruments that fleetingly moved, some things Liam would expect Professor Glumberry to have in his office and photos that also had a blanket of dust over them. Parked on the one side of the round table was a rocking armchair that, which was alarming, was still rocking.

'This place wouldn't have a light switch, would it?' asked Liam, craning his neck in all the possible places for a light switch.

'I don't know, mate, this is _your _house,' said Callum.

'Hang on,' said Tessa, 'your parents are wizards, why would they need Muggle electricity?'

'They may be wizards, but they're Muggle-born wizards,' said Liam. 'After Valindor's attack –' again ignoring his two friend's winces, 'before I was even born, they tried to disconnect themselves from the wizard world. They came up with a theory that too much muggle appliances, such as electricity, rules out magic, which actually works. This place is packed full of Muggle appliances, if you haven't noticed.'

'Oh.'

'Let's check out the table,' said Callum.

'Callum!' said Tessa. 'You said we were going to find something to do, you didn't say anything about –' She didn't finish her sentence, the dust got to her. She gave a loud, high-pitched sneeze which both Callum and Liam couldn't stop themselves from snickering at. 'That's not funny.'

'You know, that table's got a lot of things on it, I bet you anything we'll find something worthwhile,' said Liam. He and Callum started for the table which left Tessa with no choice but to do the same. Although, she didn't touch a thing, the thought of grimy, dusty hands after fiddling with such stuff left her inches away from the table, waving dust away from her in caution of sneezing again.

'What's this?' asked Callum, picking one of the dusty photos up.

'It looks like a photo,' said Liam. He inched closer only to jump back again when seeing lines of cobwebs edged to the photo.

'Oh, come on, mate,' laughed Callum, 'still aren't afraid of spiders, are you.'

_'Terrified!' _shrieked Liam. 'Shake it off!'

Callum, with no care at all that a spider might crawl onto his thump, rubbed both the dust and the cobwebs off the photograph and was found with bulging eyes as soon as he saw the picture.

'What's the matter with you?' asked Liam.

'Your father's friends with a murderer!' he said.

Gobsmacked, Liam, whose mind seize to think spiders existed now, made his way to look at the picture in Callum's hand. The picture had his father in it, although much younger, but everyone around him, who had been frolicking around behind him, Liam did not recognise, the man next to him in particular. Arms over each other's shoulder, Thomas Clark, who seemed to be in his fifth year at Hogan and was blinking at his son through his rounded glasses, stood beside a man with a round face just like his and blonde hair.

The man wore black robes and a red and gold tie; he was most definitely a Phoenixdan student. His eyes were dark – they couldn't clarify because the picture was in black and white – but they knew he was blonde because his hair had been light (or at least they thought it was blonde, it may have been a very light blonde, maybe even white).

'Who's that?' asked Liam.

'Don't tell me you don't know who that is!' snapped Tessa, startling both Liam and Callum as she had somehow snuck up behind them to see the picture.

'I – I don't,' said Liam. 'I'm I supposed to?'

'Haven't you been reading the newspaper?' asked Tessa.

Liam looked at Callum for an answer, but it was no use because he was still surprised about the man standing beside his father in the picture. Then he turned to face Tessa who rolled his eyes at him which gave him the impression that she was expecting him to think.

'Tess, I think we've all established that I'm not really into reading,' said Liam, 'not newspapers, anyway.'

'How on earth do you get the news?'

'You know the guy downstairs in that creeping office, you know, the one with the brown hair and blue eyes like me? Oh, and the lady in the kitchen, she has red hair and green eyes …' said Liam, 'yeah, they're called my parents.'

'Your parents give you the news?'

'Every day when I wake up,' said Liam. Tessa just stared at him. 'Does anybody want to tell me who the guy in the picture is, or are you both going to just leave me here in the dusty attic until I come up with a good answer?'

'That's Venus Sting.'

'Venus Sting?' He looked from Callum to Tessa who both seemed as though they were serious about this. _'Venus Sting?' _He shook his head in disbelief. 'You're both pulling my leg. Venus Sting?'

'How many times are you going to have to say it to get it into your head, mate?' said Callum. 'Venus Sting! Yes, he's the guy in the picture.'

'You're talking about the same man who my father said he didn't know at all, said he'd probably been a Scorpiosting he didn't want to get involved with,' said Liam. They both just stared at him again. 'Look, it doesn't make sense. If my dad and Sting were both on pony rides together, why the blisters would he treat him like dirt and why would he say he didn't know him?'

'I don't know, mate, he's _your _dad's best friend,' said Callum.

'Maybe he was too ashamed to be known as Venus Sting's friend,' said Tessa.

'What?' asked Liam.

'Well it makes sense, doesn't it? Why your dad would act as if he didn't know Sting, he a murderer,' said Tessa. 'The books I've read about Thomas and Angela Clark said they had friends helping them out, a group rebelling the Ministry in the shadows, it was all a secret. They had to fight evil by fighting against their allies when their allies didn't know. They must have been under rules. And Sting must have killed the hundred people then.'

'Okay, now you're telling me that Sting went to Kazaban or committing a mass murder more than a decade ago?' asked Liam. 'That's older than I am.'

'So's that picture.'

'You make a valid point,' said Liam. 'OK, let me piece this together: Venus Sting, a mass murderer jail breaker who broke out of a prison which is seemingly impregnable, was friends with my father more than a decade ago, when he was imprisoned for life for killing over a hundred people, is now on the loose for – _what?'_

'Forgiveness?' said Callum. 'Considering he was your father's friend, he'd have to have some sort of a kind heart.'

'Or to kill his friend,' said Liam. 'Sting might be after my dad.'

'But why?' asked Tessa.

'I dunno,' said Liam. 'Maybe he left him? He sent him away to the prison? I don't know it's my father's twisted past. Becoming friends with a killer?'

'Kids!' called Mrs Clark's distant voice. 'Dinner's ready!'

The three of them stared at each other for a moment, then made their way to the attic door, after Callum tossed the photograph back with the dusty pile of others. They descended the stairs only to find Mr Clark at the landing on the fourth floor, facing his office door – no, talking to his office door. They stepped down more steps until they were in clear view of what Mr Clark had been doing, and a man came into sight in front of him. The man had a handsome face, not that of Donovan's but handsome, nevertheless. He had his black hair neatly combed in parted ways and beady eyes stared at Mr Clark.

'Is that –' came Tessa but she was cut off by a duet of _SSHs _from Liam and Callum.

'… it can't be true, can it?' asked Mr Clark.

'I received an owl from Sting just hours ago and I had to come and see you.' It appeared Liam, Callum and Tessa were not the only ones who'd figured Mr Clark was in danger. 'He's coming after Liam.'

Tessa and Callum faced Liam who had his eyes bulging and appeared to be frozen. He wasn't doing anything else but trying to move his mouth, 'Who _is_ that?'

'Tom L. Wigan,' answered Tessa. 'Worldwide adventurist, esteemed fiction and non-fiction wizarding author, exceedingly good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, and – he's our new professor.'


	6. The Mirror of Emulation

For those of you who have read _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_, keep in mind that Harry and Ron have already received a detention from flying to Hogwarts with the Ford Anglia and then crashing it into the Whomping. Ron has revived the Howler from his mother. Harry has done his detention with Lockhart and Ron hasn't yet returned. And he doesn't, not that night, anyway ...

CHAPTER SIX  
>The Mirror of Emulation<p>

**_Hide That Poor Child!_**

_We're all shaken, I'm sure, but there's nothing worse than knowing only jail breaker of Kazaban Prison, Venus Sting, is after a twelve year old boy. Highly esteemed wizarding author, Tom L. Wigan, currently enrolling as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogan School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, explained to the Ministry of Magic that he received a letter from Sting explaining how he had no choice but to take revenge on Thomas Clark through his young boy, the famous Boy Who Lived, William Clark. Wigan, being worried of the current whereabouts of Venus Sting, insisted on a high security program for the little boy whilst in his year at Hogan. We have our Destructors on the case of looking for Sting whilst poor William is enjoying education under the care of Fredrick Glumberry and our short team of wizards sent to guard the school._

_We're only hoping that Fredrick Glumberry would allow such precautions taken around the school in hope of keeping the little tyke safe in his humble quarters. We would also advise that William Clark barely step a foot outside the castle in case of being cornered by Sting. The Ministry of Magic was also informed, by Grimm "Grimmy" Yorkland, owner of the books store, Wonder and Blarts, in Perpendic Alley, late last night that Venus Sting left a message on his store window before good old Grimmy locked up about William Clark when he left. Grimmy was surprised that Venus Sting would actually come to Perpendic Alley when he knew that little Clark Junior was already two weeks into school. The words were apparently written in blood spelling out:_

_Thomas Clark, face me or face the death of your poor, sweet child._

_Mr Yorkland reported it immediately and had it washed off of his window as soon as the Ministry's Law Enforcement First Class Squad arrived to investigate, hoping they would find Venus Sting lurking around Perpendic Alley. As usual, Sting was not there. In the light of it all, Sting was one of the best followers of Mr Who who was afraid of Fredrick Glumberry, maybe Sting's got a light spot for the Headmaster of Hogan._

'They make me look like a helpless young boy who can't handle a mental problem!' whined Liam. He, Tessa and Callum were sitting in the Phoenixdan common room, reading this news article over a table in the afternoon before lunch. 'Seriously, they're forgetting that I was the one who fought off Nathan Donovan singlehandedly, last year. And he had Valindor with him the whole time!'

'You've got to take this seriously, Liam,' said Tessa. 'One would wonder why the article was called Hide The Poor Child. Venus Sting really wants to kill you and you're acting as though this is all a rash you don't want to catch!'

'I can take care of myself, thank you very much,' said Liam. 'If you've forgotten, I remained parent-less for all of my ten years of living.'

'And if you've forgotten, you're parents were replaced by your aunt and uncle for those ten years,' said Tessa.

'Thanks, I don't need reminding!' snapped Liam resentfully.

'Lay off him, Tess!' said Callum. 'He's got enough on his shoulders, if you haven't noticed. There's a blimming jail breaker on his tail, he doesn't need a know-it-all fox pouncing at his every move. Seriously, give him some air.'

'If red hair bothers you, why don't you just say so rather than having to relate me to a fox!' snapped Tessa. 'And I'm not a know-it-all! Now can we please go to lunch before someone else breaks out about this stupid report!'

She stood, a book wedged in between her arms, and stormed out of the common room. Callum and Liam's eyes followed after her.

'Touchy subject, red hair,' said Callum as he got to his feet to follow after her.

'Hell with that, she's all worked up because you called her a know-it-all,' said Liam. 'And the fact that Venus Sting is surely after me.'

'No, I think she's worked up only because you think you can do Sting in with the flick of your wand,' said Callum. 'You know you're not going to be able to do that. You know as much as a twig when it comes to battle spells. You've learnt none.'

'Then I'll just have to wing it like I did with Donovan,' said Liam. 'My parents were there, they didn't help because they were held against their will. I outsmarted Donovan all by myself.'  
>Callum and Liam walked through the portrait hole and down the stairs and toward the Great Hall.<p>

'Yeah, but you didn't kill him,' said Callum.

'Of course not, I would dread to kill somebody,' said Liam.

They entered the Great Hall where a strong waft of chicken pie and mash potatoes hit them, dragging them closer to the Phoenixdan table. Immediately, they spotted Tessa, and not with a surprise, she was trying to fit in reading a thick book between spoons of mash potatoes and small portions of chicken pie. They sat on either side of her, dishing out for themselves without making a single sound other than the grumble that bawled in their stomachs.

There was clamoured clink, Tessa's drawn away mind was too focused on her book that she hadn't noticed her fork falling from within her grip, so that when she tried to dig in for more of her mash potatoes her hand nearly slipped right through her plate. Still without taking her eyes off her book, Tessa reached for the nearest fork but found her hand slipping over another. She looked to her left finding Liam who wrenched the fork from her and gave her a look of exasperation. She had no choice but to look away back into her book. Callum began to giggle.

'Care to share the joke, Callum?' asked Liam. Callum slapped his hand to his mouth, stifling his laughs. Tessa stared more intently in her book.

'She likes you,' said a voice from behind Liam. A voice that was so hushed he figured it was meant to be kept to him and him only. Turning, Liam met the face of Connor O'Riley who was flushed from giggly, himself. 'She does. M'cousin told me about them girls. Behaviour around boys they like is a little weird some of the time.'

'Tessa?' Liam looked to his right then back to Connor. 'You're tripping!'

'I'm not tripping. She's redder than her hair!'

Liam looked at Tessa, her face was indeed flushed but her barely saw much from her crouching more and more into her book.

'Like me my hat!' said Liam. He turned back to Connor after hearing Callum bursting into fits of laughter through his stifling fingers. 'You all are completely insane! My mother's a freak when it comes to stuff like this, I think I'd know whether or not a girl likes me! She's just a caring friend. She's worried I might but done in by Sting.'

'Students! Students! Calm!' Glumberry was beaming at all of them through his moon spectacles from the staff table. 'It is with great pleasure that I have the honour of welcoming a student, preferably scholar, to Hogan School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' Glumberry's single clap filled the room, but nobody followed after. 'Sorted into Scorpiosting, please welcome Mr Henry Nord.' He clapped again, forcibly louder in attempt to have the whole hall follow, and they did. 'Mr Nord will be joining our second-year students in, of course, Scorpiosting. Mr Nord, we all hope you have a wonderful school year with us. And your years yet to come. Now you may all proceed to your lunch.'

'Funny surname, Nord,' said Ralph Higginbottom (possibly the most clumsiest students Liam has ever met) from across the table. 'Think he'd have a better chance in Blinderbowl. Sounds like his fit for yellow, eh?'

'I dunno,' said Liam. 'Nord sounds a bit sketchy. Of course, that is, if his first name wasn't Henry. Henry sounds like name fit for Professor Bud. Better than Benjamin, anyway.'

Professor Benjamin Bud was their Herbology teacher who seemed gawky and inept with anything that does not relate to plants or things with the colour green or had a leaf sprouting from some part of it. Professor Bud was the only teacher at the staff table who would have trouble cutting his food or finding his mouth. He would not take off the small, upturned pot plant pasted to the top of his untidy mass of grey curls. The pot plant had a small, snapping green plant growing through a cracked hole in the middle of it. He was a skinny man who seemed he had the slightest clue of what size robes he had to wear, they all bagged wherever he stood. He had a remarkably red and round nose that the students wouldn't be surprised if he had mistaken it for a tomato. And best of all, his circular glasses hung askew on one side of his round nose that he was able to see clearly through his one eye and barely see most with his other.

As Liam thought this through he looked at the staff table where Professor Bud had mistakenly pea-shot a student from below and had then given up on eating his peas.

'Funny, this Nord character. Wouldn't expect him to be a Scorpiosting student,' muttered Liam.  
>'Did you read the news today?' asked Connor.<p>

'Sorry, what?' asked Liam. He was focussing too much of Henry Nord to think about anything else.

'Oh yeah,' said Ralph, 'big one, today. Sting threatened you, Liam, he did. Wants revenge on your father is what I heard.'

'Wouldn't guess why,' said Connor. 'I suspected Sting was a Scorpiosting students, too. Liam's dad was probably Phoenixdan. Had some tough rivalries there, then. I think Mr Clark turned Sting in.'

'Fat chance!' said Callum. He squeezed his way in between Liam and Tessa, who happily scooted over for her own sake. 'Sting and Liam's father were friends. Saw a picture of them back at Liam's house. Besties, I'd say.'

'Really?' asked Connor. 'Friend revenge draws people to whole lot of crazy measures.'

'Yeah, but if you're forgetting, Sting was one of Mr Who's followers,' said Callum. 'Might want to get Liam for destroying his master. Mr Who's long gone, now.'

'My parents aren't,' said Liam.

'Pardon?'

'Valindor was with Donovan last year,' said Liam. 'He's not dead. Valindor's not dead.'

'Yeah, well you might want to stop saying his name, then,' said Connor. 'Scaring the jeepers out of the first years.'

'You're sure I'm not scaring you?' asked Liam sardonically.

'I'm sure.'

'Keep telling yourself that.' Liam was smiling. 'Maybe you'll end up saying Valindor's name for what it is, then.'

*

**_Venus Sting At Large  
><em>**_Venus Sting has recently paid a visit to a citizen near King's Cross Station, leaving yet another bloody message for Mr Clark and his little Clark Junior. He left the message on the window of a home whilst its inhabitants were out shopping. By the time they arrived home, Sting had gone out on his hunt for the two Mr Clarks. In further ado, we will be announcing the messages from Sting to Thomas and William. This time he had said:_

_Don't think this only your doings, Thomas, your son was a goner ever since he'd taken down L*** Va**dor (this was done so not to terrify the public of Mr Who's names)! I'm coming for you, Clark!_

'Okay, I'm a bit freaked out about this Sting person, now,' said Liam. It had been after dinner when Tessa read that out to him and Callum. They barely paid attention to anyone after they saw the heading.

'It'll be all right,' said Tessa. 'You've still got your mom who can really fight, can't she?'

'Yeah, I bet your mom would charm Sting's fugitive butt back to Kazaban where he belongs,' said Callum. Tessa stomped hard on his foot which made Liam laugh.

'Serves you right,' he giggled.

'Oh, isn't it the newspaper's very own crybaby?' One thing that was not mentioned about Dmitri McElroy is that she had such a girly tone to her voice that she sounded like a dying princess whose last wish is to torture as many as she could, and she was almost desperate for it.

'Oh, it's the little twit,' snapped Liam.

'Hey!' snapped Adrian, her even more obnoxious brother. 'Don't talk to my sister that way. You're the twit anyway.'

'Who's he?' interrupted Callum, pointing at a boy in between the two twins.

'Henry Nord.' Nord did look more of a Blinderbowl student than a Scorpiosting student. He was shorter than both the twins, skinnier than anyone Liam's ever seen and had the most whitest blonde hair that if one were to look at it fleetingly, they would have mistaken him for the youngest looking old man they had ever seen in their lives. Though his skin didn't bulge like one of an old person's, his looked exceedingly smooth, regardless of his pale face. His eyes were naturally slightly narrowed and green, greener than any green that he had seen in a person's eyes before. He, in fact, looked rather handsome, for a twelve year old boy, and too innocent to be a Scorpiosting student.

'The scholar!' said Tessa who seemed as though she would jet off the balls of her feet in joy, and appearing to disregard the fact that she was excited over a friend of their archenemies'.

'You're their friend?' said Liam sourly. 'Couldn't you rock up with some other Scorpiosting student. Someone nicer, maybe?' He was surprised a boy like Nord would be in ranks with some pair of twits like the McElroys.

'What's the matter, Clark?' smirked McElroy. 'Jealous of our new friend. Do you want to swap over again? You think Glumberry would allow it this time?'

'I'd rather meet Valindor in the face than that!' said Liam.

'You'd never know, Clark,' said Nord. His voice was just as cold and sallow as Adrian, no ... Donovan's, it sounded ... No, impossible. 'Valindor might be as close to you as you think.'  
>Liam, Tessa and Callum were left in the corridor by them. Liam stared at Nord as though he was the Dark Lord's father, he was instantly afraid of him; he sounded too much like Nathan Donovan.<p>

'He sounds like Nathan Donovan!' said Liam in a hushed tone when he, Tessa and Callum entered the common room and parked in a comfy armchair by the fire. 'He really sounds like Donovan, I'm not mental!'

'He does not sound like Donovan, he's only a child,' said Tessa.

'Tessa, it's so cold like his,' said Liam. 'He sounds bloody similar to Donovan.'

'Go for a walk!' suggested Tessa. 'You're being targeted by a jail breaker, you're constantly reminded of the man who nearly killed you last year, you believe you need to spend as much time as you can with you parents but they're not here, and this Henry Nord kid has gotten you cowering in fear over something so silly. Go for a walk! Even if it has to be after hours, go for a walk and refresh your mind.'

'If you're suggesting that I'm a mommy- or daddy's-boy, you're wrong,' said Liam, blushing.  
>'Just go for a walk!'<p>

'Fine, I'll go for the blasted walk!' snapped Liam. 'I'll get my ring and I'll be off! Goodnight, I'm not expecting you to be here when I come back.'

- * -

'Stupid Filch!' murmured Ron under his breath. He was swinging his arm and massaging it as hard as possible to diminish the pain, but it didn't seem to be working. One would guess, scrubbing the trophies clean when he was belching slugs was the greatest combination when you're in a detention with Filch. 'Stupid slugs!' It was a cursed to say that for Ron had belched more slugs, and had them spluttering on the floor behind him.

He was walking on a corridor back from detention in the trophy room. He was just waiting for Filch to come by from all the slug trails he left behind. It wasn't his fault, it was Malfoy's for calling Hermione a Mudblood. Who would stoop down to such a level as to call a Muggle-born a Mudblood. Hermione's smarter than Malfoy by far! Ron thought. 'Stupid Malfoy!' he muttered once more. He passed a wall, a cream, blank wall. Stupid Malfoy! Ron kept walking until his heard something creaking from behind him. Hang on, where's the wall? though Ron for the wall he thought he passed was replaced by an abstract, black door.

Ron walked to the black door. It wasn't there before ...

- * -

Invisible. He knew he was invisible. The function of his ring was to make him invisible. And he proved it by throwing a vase at Jared Gray, the hunchbacked, scrunched nosed caretaker who hated every one of the students who hated him just as much. As long as Liam knew he was invisible, he could do as much as he liked to, but knew the prospect of him being caught was a boatload of detentions, possibly even a expulsion.

He was walking along a corridor just away from the Phoenixdan Tower. He was just walking, hands driven into his pockets, strolling across the corridor passed and blank, cream wall and almost to a staircase. Then something creaked behind him. He turned. 'The blank wall?' said Liam to himself. He swore he did not come across the corridor because there was an abstract patterned, black door where the blank cream wall should have been. He walked closer to try and establish whether or not it would disappear into the blank wall again, but nothing. He held the door handles and pulled ...

- * -

As soon as Ron held the door handle, it tugged him towards it as though trying to suck him into the door. He felt weary around it. He tugged the handle back and hoped it would open, but nothing ...

- * -

Liam was tugged forward. He felt as though the door was trying to swallow him whole. He felt himself trembling from its sudden self-movement. So he tugged it again and hoped it would open to some room, but there was nothing. Maybe if I count to ten, that always works. One ... Two ...

- * -

... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine ... Ten! Pull! The door opened and Ron entered the room. It was a small room. The air was filled with dust, everything was covered with a cloth. Though, the only thing that caught his attention was the one in the dead middle. It was tall, taller than him. He walked toward it and grabbed the cloth. It was grimy and dusty but Ron cared less, and he pulled. He met a mirror and immediately he expected to see himself but he did not. He saw ...

- * -

... A tall, flame red haired boy with a freckled face, long nose and big hands. Funny, Liam never remembered himself having red hair or a long nose. He had brown, curly hair and a small, button nose. He squinted his eyes at the boy in the mirror. He moved as he moved.

'No way!' muttered Liam as he made one last move to the left and back.

'AAAH!' shouted the red haired boy in the mirror. His yell made Liam jump. 'You can talk?'

''Course I can talk! I'm a boy, aren't I?' snapped Liam.

'But you're in a mirror!' replied the boy.

'No, you're in a mirror!' said Liam back.

'No!' spat the boy in the mirror. 'You're in the mirror! I can see you through the mirror, not me!'

'You're tripping!' said Liam. 'You're the one in the mirror! I can see you through the mirror, not me!'

'You have a scar!' said the boy. 'A lightning shaped scar just like Harry's, on your forehead!' boomed the boy.

'Yeah, I've had it - wait ...' Liam scrunched up his face, 'you don't know who I am?'

'Should I?'

'Everybody does,' said Liam. He was shocked that there was actually one person who didn't know who he was. 'I'm William Clark, the Boy Who Lived.'

'The Boy Who Lived?' asked the boy. 'You're the one tripping now! The Boy Who Lived's not you, it's Harry Potter, my best friend.'

'Did this Harry Potter person of yours face a Dark Lord when he was one and have his parents taken away from him. Did he get his scar then?' asked Liam.

'Yeah, he did.'

Liam paused. Someone actually was facing the troubles he was. 'Where's this Harry Potter, I want to meet him.'

'Oh, well, you can't,' said the boy, 'he's back at the Gryffindor common ro-' Liam saw a sight he would have never want to see in his life again; the boy in mirror belched slugs, one in particular came tumbling through the framed of the mirror and onto the floor he stood on.

'What the hell!' yelled Liam. 'How'd it get here! W-what - what happened to you!'

'My friend was called a Mudblood and I tried to jinx the person who -' The boy belched again and another two came through the mirror to Liam's side. 'The spell backfired!' The boy was whipping his mouth clean, but Liam was more worried about the three slugs that came through to his side.

'That's bloody disgusting!' said Liam.

'You think. Lucky you're not the one who's vomiting these things!' said the boy. 'Ron, Ronald Weasley.' The boy held out his hand as though it could really reach Liam but he pulled it back immediately as his fingers touched the glass of the mirror. However, his fingers didn't touch anything, his fingers went right through the glass of the mirror toward Liam who fumbled back.

'What?' said the boy.

'Put your hand through,' said Liam. The idea came to him as soon as he knew what was happening.

'Okay ...' The boy named Ron did so. Liam pulled his hand so that Ron could get through. 'What're you doing?'

'I'm pulling you to my side!' said Liam. 'So we can talk properly. I'm Liam, by the way, William Clark, but people call me Liam.'

'Hang on!' said Ron and he pulled himself back. 'How come I can't pull you to my side?'  
>''Cause I thought of the idea!' said Liam. He pulled Ron back toward him.<p>

Ron pulled himself back to his feet and tried to pull Liam to his side. Liam did the same. They kept doing so until both their hands were in line with the glass of the mirror and it began to crack. They didn't notice it, however, they kept trying to pull each other into their side. The mirror kept cracking every time both their hands were in line with the glass of the mirror and a light was growing from where their hands where. It was so bright that it filled the whole room and they thought the glass was trying to attack them, so they brought out their wands and yelled out a spell at the same time.

'_CONJUNTIVITIS_!'

'_TARENTALLEGRA_!'


	7. Err What Just Happened

CHAPTER SEVEN  
>Err ... What Just Happened?<p>

Whatever happened to Liam was something of a surprise. He woke up the next morning having worn out his legs from excessively dancing on the spot over broken shards of glinting glass scattered across the floor. However, as he woke up, his legs were putting up a fight against the strikingly fatigue pain and were wearily still dancing in a motion that made his legs look like jelly. The glass shards were weakly pierced into the trouser he wore as he lay limply on the dirty, soot-covered floor. He wanted to groan of the pain of his legs, only he knew not of the place he had been in, nor did he remember how he got there. The only thing he did remember was the flamed-haired boy he met through an odd mirror. He didn't particularly want to believe that it happened yesterday, the slugs the boy belched were all to make Liam belch himself, although he would have belched his insides. Though, what surprised him more was the fact that he hadn't been in the boys' dormitory. The dream he had about the boy in the mirror was corroborating more real than he wanted to believe.

Liam sat up, glaring at his dancing legs. He was beyond confused. Had he had the sudden desire to dance that he did it even when he was asleep, and if so, had he danced all the way out of his bed to someplace else? Wherever he was he hoped that it had not been the place where he had dreamt about that slug-belching boy, nor had he wished it to be near that weird mirror. But as his eyes scanned his whereabouts - where he had then seen a whole load of random objects you would find in a dusty, old attic - he land on a wardrobe with its doors wide opened, or it looked wide open.

Liam squinted his eyes for a clearer view, the wardrobe's doors weren't opened at all, what he had been looking at had been the frame of what used to be a mirror; evidence of such were tiny, protuberant, jagged shards still edged into the wooden frame. He broke a mirror! On school property! Surely that was a one way ticket to expulsion. He got up, carefully dusted the tiny shard glued to his trousers and stole another glance at the broken mirror once again. _No one's going to know, right? It's just a dusty old mirror that had been lying in a room for some while, _thought Liam hopefully, though in his head he knew quite well that something like this was bound to cross Glumberry. He could only imagine how angry his parents would be, Thomas and Angela Clark are not going to have mercy once they find out that Liam had been expelled from Hogan.

He turned away from the broken mirror with that horrible thought in mind, imagining the punishments bound to end up in his future once this was all spread. He took once step and heard the creaking sound of a large shard of glass, feeling it crumble from underneath his sneaker. He looked at his own reflection in the shattered shard, fleetingly seeing the red-haired boy in it. His brows furrowed, he wanted to so wish none of what he dreamt last night ever happened, he wished that it stayed a dream. He took another step forward when a voice stopped him in his tracks. It wasn't merely deep enough to be Glumberry's so his heart was just jumping with joy.

'Oi! You!' called the voice. It had come from behind Liam. He turned but saw no one in sight, but he dared not to turn or run away for the person behind the voice may turn up anywhere; for all he knew it had been either one of the McElroys and their suck-up friend Nord ready to tell him off. Then a boy appeared from behind the broken mirror, and it had been the same boy from his superstitious dream he had last night.

'No, no!' snapped Liam. The boy looked puzzled. 'You're not supposed to be here!'

'Well, where am I supposed to be, may I ask?' probed the boy.

'In your world with that Harry Potter hero of yours,' said Liam. 'I can't have you snooping around with me, people'll wonder where I scrapped you from.'

'Just for the record, you didn't "scrap" me from anywhere, I came through a mirror - oddly,' retorted the boy, 'and in any fact, how do you know _I'm_ the one that came to your side? How do you know you didn't come to my side?'

'Because I'm William Clark, I can't go anywhere!' said Liam. 'I know that sounds like I'm a bit full of myself but truthfully, I merely wish that's what it was.'

'You sound like you have it hard -'

'_Hard_? I have it the worst! I bet you you don't have a countless line of people believing that you're capable of much more just because you defeated a Dark Lord. And heck, no one really has an idea whether or not this guy's gone for real, they're just happy he's gone, that they could live a happy life whilst Lord Valindor's building up his powers, and if he ever does, who's to say Liam Clark will come the rescue again?'

'_That_ bad, huh?'

'_That_ _bad_!'

'Now, who's this Valindor guy?' asked the boy.

'Well, seeming as you're not afraid to say his name, I'm guessing you really don't who Valindor is,' said Liam. 'Valindor's a dark lord, and not just any dark lord he's _the_ Dark Lord. Like, everyone's afraid of him. I dunno, really, he's just a wizard I somehow managed to defeat when I was a child. No one really knows how, but who really cares when there's no bloody dark lord to be afraid of?'

'That's like Vold - He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named and Harry.'

'I'm guessing this "He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named" guy scares everyone, too?'

'Well, of course, William!' said the boy, 'He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named's done some pretty scary stuff.'

'Call me Liam,' said Liam. 'Because unless you're my mother and you're really angry, no one calls me that.'

'All right, Liam,' said the boy. 'I'm Ron, by the way, Ronald Weasley.'

'Well, Weasley,' said Liam, 'we should probably scat before we decide to make some teacher's-pet's day, someone like Tessa, maybe.'

'Who's Tessa?' asked Ron.

'I'll tell you on the way.'

*

Harry woke up the next day and immediately laid eyes on Ron's bed. It was either Ron got up really early or he never returned from last night's detention with Filch, but one seemed most likely to happen than the other that he guessed Ron might have just gotten up from an early start. There was no way he could have stayed all night doing detention, he couldn't imagine doing that for he, himself, wouldn't dare think how miserable it would have been to spend countless hours with Gilderoy Lockhart.

Harry looked around at all the other the beds. Oddly, there had been an empty one opposite his that remained as untouched and unwrinkled as Ron's had been. Harry scanned the room, there lay the three other boys whom had slept in this dormitory with him, but there had too been three other boys he had not seen in beds he had not known where there before. He thought maybe this was a mere trick of his eyes only because he hadn't been wearing his glasses, but as he put them on he found the very same outcome only clearer and sharper than before.

He slipped out of bed thinking that the the few extra beds would disappear if he had gone out to the common room for a while then come back when Seamus, Dean and Neville were up and out. He put on something to wear and left the boys' dormitory for the common room, down the spiral staircase. there on an armchair, he found Hermione reading a new copy of the _Daily_ _Prophet_, looking rather excited about something.

'What's going on?' he asked Hermione as he approached her.

'Robert MacFarlarne's a wizarding author who's apparently written a five-star rated fiction, romance book fit for children and teens from age ten and up!' she squealed.

'Joy!' said Harry sarcastically.

'Boys never get the concept of a good book,' said Hermione.

'Neither do most girls,' said Harry, 'but you, Hermione, you would read a book if it was rated half star. I honestly don't know how many times you've read _Hogwarts: A HIstory_.' he continued, seeing the book popping out from the bag that lay on the floor beside Hermione's chair.

'If wouldn't hurt to know a bit of history of your school, Harry,' said Hermione.

'Liam, is that the bossy voice of Tessa I he- you're not Tessa ...' A boy with black hair, black eyes and a very red and round nose walked in still in his pyjamas, 'and you're not Liam.'

'And we've never seen you here before,' said Harry.

'Callum, I heard your remark on my voice and it was rude,' said a girl with ginger-red hair and golden-green eyes who came walking in after the boy, Callum, whacking him in the arm with a book she held in her hands. She then turned to who Callum's attention was on really and furrowed her brows at the green-eyed boy and the bushy, brown-haired girl in front of her. 'Who are they?'

'We should be asking you the same question,' said Hermione back. 'Who are you and when did you come to Hogwarts?'

'Hogwarts?' asked Tessa. 'You must be mistaken, this is Hogan, not Hogwarts. And we's like to know when you two arrived -'

The portrait hole had been opened and in came Ron and Liam, panting and scoffing at what appeared to be something of a "close-call". Liam held out his hand for a high-five to which Ron responded to happily. Then the two of them straightened themselves up and were about to walk off to bed when they met the four pairs of furrowed eyebrows from Harry, Hermione, Tessa and Callum.

'Now, who are you?' Those words came out of all four people, all of which were looking for answers that both Ron and Liam appeared to have had.

'Who are you?' Again, the words came out simultaneously except this time it came out of Ron and Liam's mouths who both displayed that they knew as much as this as the four in front of them.

'Is that an owl?' asked Liam, pointing at the window behind the four others. There on the windowsill had been a tawny owl perched firmly on it with a letter strapped to its leg. Harry, Hermione, Tessa and Callum turned and Harry went for the letter. He opened it and it read:

_Dear either Harry or Liam,_

_We would love it if you were to join us in our office. We have many things to discuss. The password is "Sherbet Lemon", we're sure that's easy enough to do. Meet us immediately._

_From,  
>Dumbledore (Harry)<br>Glumberry (Liam)_

'Right, which one of you is Liam?' asked Harry.

Liam, from beside Ron, raised his hand reluctantly as this could very well be another death threat from Venus Sting. Also, if he weren't to do it, Tessa and Callum were certainly going to do it for him.

'This is from the Headmaster,' said Harry, 'and it says you and I have to meet up with him.'

'Why you and me?'

'I guess we're just going to have to find out.'

*

Harry and Liam had a very silent trip to McGonagall's and McDonald's office in order to ask for assistance to the Headmaster's office, and another silent trip to a large statue of a gargoyle embedded into the wall where the two Professors left them after saying, 'Sherbet lemon!' The large statue jumped aside revealing a staircase that began to twirl upwards. Harry and Liam, who thought of no better objective, found it easy having to jump onto a step. The staircase came to a landing where they both got off and walked toward a very large door with a brass knocker of a phoenix.

Wearily, they knocked and were admitted in by a duet of, 'Come in!' And they had done so.

Either one's perspective, they both had to say that their Headmaster's office was rather interesting, in fact so interesting that both of them had stopped in their tracks at the doorway just to catch a glimpse of every single thing that they were able to see from their position. It was a large, beautiful circular room, full of noises beyond funny. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, humming and emitting little puffs of smoke. Portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses were covering the walls, all snoozing gently in their frames. There was a colossal, claw-footed desk, and, sitting firmly and highly on a shelf behind it, a dingy and tinctured wizard's hat - the Sorting Hat.

'So who's this Glumberry person?' asked Harry whose eyes refused to leave the sight of the Sorting Hat.

'I suppose this Dumbledore guy is exactly who he is, the Headmaster,' replied Liam. It was exactly the opposite of what Harry was hoping to hear; having a conversation with one headmaster was deal enough, but two was asking for a ticket to a trip out the gates of the school - or in this case, across the lake of the castle.

'Great,' Harry mumbled to himself.

'Liam?' came a voice, a feminine voice, one Harry had not heard of before but had Liam next to him looking rather perplexed.

'Mum?' said Liam.

From behind a wall near the shelf in which seated the Sorting Hat two people emerged into the circular room, both of which seemed quite familiar to Liam, Harry thought, for he had furrowed eyebrows, and Harry was quite sure that eyes weren't supposed to be as big as golfballs.

'Dad?' said Liam.

'Hang on -' but Harry was cut off by a voice calling out his own name, and he knew it had been far from being Dumbledore's. Next thing he knew he was being pulled into a hug and in the arms of a red-haired women, pushed up against Liam whom had tried to wriggle out of an uncomfortable position.

'Oh, Harry,' said the woman, 'I thought I'd never see you again!' she gasped.

Harry found that over and beyond alarming, he'd never met this woman before. He managed to wriggled out of her grip, but with help for Liam did, too, apparently shocked that she had already known Harry.

'What do you mean "you never thought you'd see him again"? you've never seen him before, and neither have I!'

'Oh, I assure you, Mr Clark, your mother has indeed met Harry before,' said the voice of Fredrick Glumberry, a tall, thin wizard whose moon-shaped glasses always hung at the tip of his long, pointy nose. 'So has your father.'

'What?' said Harry and Liam together.

'We would please ask if you all take a seat,' said the voice of Albus Dumbledore, and at that moment four chairs appeared by the claw-footed table, just opposite two high chairs in front of the shelf, in which both Glumberry and Dumbledore took a seat in. Mr Clark, a tall, lean man who wore circular glasses over a pair of sky-blue eyes and sporting a five o'clock shadow - probably from more countless hours in his very-secretive office of his - ushered his wife, Mrs Clark who had been a small, red-haired woman whose green eyes were the first thing that caught Harry's attention, mainly because they looked exactly like that of James Potter, his late father, to a seat.

Liam and Harry, both not daring to disobey a direct order from the Headmasters, took a seat after them feeling both convicted and nervous. What bothered them most was that Dumbledore and Glumberry were both beaming at them, as though whatever the outcome of this meeting, it wasn't going to be bad. Then Glumberry opened his mouth to speak, only after pushing his glasses up the bridge of his long nose.

'I hope that feeling of conviction soon vacates the both of you, Harry, Liam, we merely called you both here for a family reunion,' said Glumberry. Harry and Liam frowned.

'Family reunion?'

'Quite, yes,' said Dumbledore. 'Family reunion, as in yes, Mr Potter, Angela's eyes do indeed have a resemblance of James Potter, because she is James' sister.'

'Sister?' asked Harry. 'Well, then that means -' Harry's insides began to bubble with joy and excitement. He grew a smile.

'I'm your aunt, Harry,' said Mrs Clark.

'And I'm the guy who married her, so that makes me your uncle,' said Mr Clark.

'I've got family - more family - other than the Dursleys, I mean?' asked Harry.

'Oh, the Dursleys,' said Mr Clark. 'How I dread to see the day when I met the porky face of Vernon Dursley ... oh, and how much skinnier Petunia's gotten. Surely you're not living with them, are you? I hear they've got a son of their own, Dumply, is it? Heard he's a real piggie, that one, as pink as one, too.'

Harry laughed. Liam raised an eye.

'Hang on, you're my cousin?' asked Liam.

'With the same birthday, and the same fate, look,' said Mr Clark, he pointed at Harry's forehead were there had been the lightning shaped scar, 'he's got the same scar.'

'Your that Harry Potter person Ron was ranting on about,' said Liam in an awed voice. 'Didn't think I'd believe him until now! You really do have a scar - on your forehead - and it's lightning shaped! And you got it from a Dark Lords, and your parents -'

'Died ...' said Harry in a low tone, the bubbling sensation of having another side of the family eased slowly. 'Lord Voldemort killed them. He's the Dark Lord that gave me this.' Harry pulled up his hair to reveal the lightning shaped scar.

'Thank you, Harry, I needed that confirmed,' said Mrs Clark in a broken tone. 'I guess James really is gone.'

'So you were his sister, younger or older?' asked Harry, trying to get off this topic.

'Older,' said Mrs Clark, 'by ten months. We were in the same year, I was best friends with your mother, too. Lily was a great friend.'

'So was your dad, Harry,' said Mr Clark. 'He and I go back a while. Never really got along with Lily and Angie for the first few years, then Angie kind of helped us through it when we grew older, like a peace-maker, she is.'

'So, let me get this straight,' said Liam, 'last year the secrecy, the reason you never mentioned your brother or your maiden name was because ...?'

'Ah, that is where we have to put an end to your little family reunion, Mr Clark,' said Dumbledore. 'This world has been split into two dimensions, one in which has Harry Potter as the legendary Boy Who Lived and the other in which was Liam Clark. How the world was split was a mishap cause by James Potter and Mr Clark, themselves. However, their reasons were good enough for it to have been done for it separated two Dark Lords from unleashing a devastating wrath upon the world, Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor.'

'Yes indeed, Lord Voldemort and Valindor were united as one and were about to rule the world, but lucky your fathers stopped that from happening or we'd never be here today,' said Glumberry. 'Despite its major flaw, which was separating families and friends rather than only the two Dark Lords, it was for the greater good and now that the Dark Lords are no where to be seen there is nothing to fear. The reason why explanations were not told during the time in which the worlds were still separated was because of balance, if one were to tell a generation born during or after the "Mauris Unicae", I believe they called it, (which is Latin for world's splitting), then there were high possibilities of causing calamity and a warped time and era, so everyone agreed never to tell of the past before this _Mauris_ _Unicae_.'

'Then how'd the world ... Anti-Maris Uni-what's-it-called ...?'

'Do you mean how did it stick together, well, we believe the answer to that is you, Mr Clark,' said Dumbledore. Liam looked baffled, but he wasn't the only one; Mr Clark's round glasses made a little jump onto the tip of his nose and Mrs Clark's green eyes bulged bigger than the size of golfballs.

'Sorry, but how did Liam undo what I barely remember what I did?' asked Mr Clark.

'Through a mirror with the help of dear Ronald Weasley,' said Dumbledore. 'I do believe Liam found that one was able to walk through the mirror as though it were never there, and if he so succeeded, Mr Clark and Mr Weasley would have done the job flawlessly without us having a broken mirror lying in a chamber.'

'The mirror in which you saw Ron, Liam, is called the Mirror of Emulation - Emulate meaning to mimic someone, ironically - the function of such mirror is to see memories from the past and to see people in different dimension, such as what you had seen through the Mirror, Liam.'

'And because we moved through the mirror, we stuck the world back together?'

'Because you cast a spell at the mirror,' said Glumberry; Liam wondered how the two of them knew exactly what Ron and him did before they could even think of a plan to elude the situation. 'That would also be the reason why it had shattered, because you broke it with the spell.'

'And the school?' asked Harry. 'What plans do you have for it.'

'Come dinner, and you will find out ... should you worry, Harry, I think not ... and Mr and Mrs Clark, feel free to find a seat amongst the students, or you can come and sit with us up at the staff table.'


	8. Dreams and Blood

CHAPTER EIGHT  
>Dreams and Blood<p>

'So what did the Headmaster want with you?' asked Hermione as Harry returned with the other boy whose name escaped her.

'Oh - um - well, I just found out that I have another side of the family,' replied Harry. He gestured Liam. 'His mother's my father's older sister.'

'So he's your cousin?' asked Hermione. 'And who might you be?'

'Don't tell me you don't know William Clark,' said Callum. 'Everyone knows him, he's the Boy Who Lived.'

'No, Harry's the Boy Who Live, he's got a lightning scar on his forehead,' said Hermione.

'So does Liam,' added Harry. 'He got it from some Dark Lord ... Valindor, was it?'

At once there was a sudden uproar of calamity for Callum had slipped off his seat and landed on the floor with a loud thud, followed by the contents of the table he sat at. He jumped back up, flushing, and dusted himself off, then he gave Harry and very angry look as though he had secretly cast a spell that made him fall off his chair.

'Are you insane!' asked Callum resentfully. 'Don't go around saying his name, now, it's "Mr Who" and it's going to stay that way!'

'Oh, shut it, Callum!' said Liam. 'It's clear as day that Harry and I have the same perspective of that stupid name they gave Valindor. It's Valindor and it'll stay Valindor.' Callum looked as though someone had thrown small burning flames and his face and he was flinching to ease the pain after the three times Liam had said the Dark Lord's name.

'So did they tell you what was going on around here?' asked Ron. 'Why we're now here together ... maybe something about that mirror.'

Harry and Liam looked at each other, they knew the exact answer to that though they were not sure whether they ought to tell any of them - Dumbledore and Glumberry didn't quite clarify if they should. But whether or not the Headmasters might punish them for doing so, they would plan to go through it together, being cousins.

'The mirror,' said Liam, facing Ron, 'the one we met through, somehow it brought us together, as one whole world.'

'Wait, what do you mean "one whole world"?' asked Hermione.

'That's the point,' said Harry, 'apparently this is how the world should have been like, if not for my dad and his dad separating the world.'

'Why'd they do that?'

'To separate Lord Voldemort and Valindor -' Hermione, Ron, Callum and Tessa winced. 'Apparently they were going to rule the world together - I know, sounds a little over the top.'

'All right, we don't know the full story but we're sure Dumbledore and Glumberry will cover it up,' said Liam.

'And you know that for sure?' asked Hermione in a tone that made everyone think that she wasn't going to be very friendly with him or any one involved with him.

'Well, no,' said Liam feeling quite uncertain what her response would be to what he had next to say, 'but they did say that they are going to explain all the plans for the school at dinner.'

'So, I think we better go down, now,' suggested Harry for reasons of why Hermione sounded as though Liam had been some type of fugitive ready to take a shot at Harry right now.

With a response of a nod, Liam scurried off to the door so that he could get away from Hermione as much as possible. Ron, Harry and Callum followed after, and after them followed Tessa and Hermione who didn't speak nor look at each other. However, the Great Hall brought as many happy faces as ever for just the smell of the food had Liam, Harry, Callum and Ron wafting to a seat at the Gryffindor\Phoenixdan table.

Once they were all seated, Dumbledore and Glumberry stood and the hall silenced. What seemed odd was the fact that nobody else seemed to notice the sudden change, and there sat the six of them who all saw the extra people seated at the Great Hall tables, which seemed as though they elongated during the course of this mirror situation. Both Dumbledore and Glumberry beamed at the students and at once there had been a definite murmur of who the other guy was, but the older students - say the sixth and seventh years - knew exactly who both were and were happy to see them together again.

'Settle down, students!' said Glumberry. The hall reached the silence it so longed to have for this moment. 'Now, most of you would be wondering who I am and some of may be thinking the exact same thing for my friend standing beside me. We shall, of course, explain this, however, for students particularly in the older years, I'd say you quite already know who we are for we had once stood here together before. I am Professor Fredrick Glumberry, Headmaster of Hogan School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

'I, too, am the Headmaster of Hogan,' said Dumbledore, many of the Hogwarts students made funny faces. 'Professor Albus Dumbledore is my name and I, with my dear friend, have rather big news to share, for this school does not go by the name Hogan, it goes by the name Hogwarts. And the same applies to the school houses. For Phoenixdan, you will now be called Gryffindor, for Blinderbowl, you will now be called Hufflepuff, for Wolfhowl, you will now go by the name Ravenclaw, and Scorpiosting, you will go by the name of Slytherin.'

'Reasons why will not be explained today for we have asked for much more experienced hands to handle the situation,' said Glumberry. 'Our Historians, Professor Cuthbert Binns, our History of Magic ghost, and Professor Victor Von Seiler, our History of Magic veggie vampire, have agreed in retelling the story behind all this and behind what brought us back together, however, the names of who brought us back together will remain in shadows.'

'For now, all you need to know, dear students, is that the world is back to what it should be and that you shall need to get used to being taught by two teachers in one class,' said Professor Dumbledore. 'It may or may not remain like that but one has to be careful around such things, and not be rash and impetuous. Without further ado, and this final message which contains having to make new friends, dig in!'

No more had there been any more murmuring of suspicion, however, Hermione gave Liam a scornful look apparently trying to make him feel bad for saying the Headmasters would explain everything and did not. Liam looked away from her and rather wanted to start a conversation with his new cousin, Harry, who looked at him with a smile as to bring him out of this spotlight of outcast Hermione had brought upon him. But, for relatives, they had nothing to talk about and instead remained silent for the remainder of their meal.

*

'We've got our new tables for lessons,' squealed Tessa the next day. 'We've got, double Charms, History of Magic, break, Potions and Herbology!'

'Oh great, a full lesson with cruddy Wolverhampton,' mumbled Liam. 'He's our Potions Master.'

'It seems as though all Potions Masters are hated,' said Harry. 'Our Potions Master's Snape.'

'Let me guess,' began Callum, 'hates anyone who is friends with you - or in our case Liam - but has his favourites all piled in Scorpiosting - I mean, Slytherin. Sorry.'

'Don't be, I understand it's gonna takes some getting used to,' said Harry. 'What with all the names of your school changing.'

'At least we'll get an explanation of why during History of Magic,' said Callum.

'Yeah, and what's a veggie vampire?' asked Ron.

'A vampire who feeds on tree sap and vegetables,' said Hermione. 'I read about it last night, I was a bit curious of why they would let a vampire teach in a school full of kids.'

'He's innocent,' said Liam. 'It says it right in the name, hence "Veggie" Vampire.' But that did not help for Hermione shot him yet another one of those scorning spotlights. 'Let's go!'

Breakfast didn't take too long, in fact, it was quite a short session for Liam because Hermione kept looking at him as though he was some sort of fugitive. At Charms, Harry and Liam made it possible that the two of them sat together, and Liam forced Harry to sit in the front for reason unknown as Liam stated Harry "would see very soon."

'Good morning, class,' said the squeaky voice of Professor Flitwick. He waddled his way to the front, found his big pile of books and stood on them. However, as he stood on them and glanced over the heads of the students, his face froze and then melted into one that looked as though he had been love-struck.

'Quite a good morning, isn't it, class?' said a woman's voice. All the students looked behind them, all those from Hogan with a bit of a haste, too. As soon as their eyes met the woman strolling in after Professor Flitwick, all the boys' faces morphed into that of the one Professor Flitwick had: love-struck.

For the woman who had walked in was quite beautiful, in fact, beyond beautiful, she was - stunning, might I say. Scarlet Sunderland was possibly the most favoured teacher by default of her looks - to boys anyway. She really was good at her job but none of the boys would pay any attention to what she had been saying. She had a perfect, narrow, pointed nose, a long sheet of golden, waist-length hair that shun like a glistening waterfall, and her eyes were like two grassy emeralds swimming in the whiteness of her eyeballs.

'Who - is - that?' Harry asked Liam as he, too, was caught infatuated by her.

'Scarlet Sunderland,' replied Liam. 'Our Charms teacher.'

'Now I see why you wanted us to sit in the front,' said Harry, resting his head on the palm of his hand, daydreaming about the stunning teacher in front of him.

Professor Sunderland took out her wand and said something, they didn't know what because they had been too busy daydreaming. The room filled with a sparkling, pink smoke and disappeared just as quick as it appeared. The boys now found themselves laughing at Professor Flitwick, who had toppled down the stack of books he stood on and landed with a thud on the ground. The thought of the pretty Professor in front of them evaporated in the humour of seeing Flitwick's reddened, throbbing nose once he got up.

'Ooh -' squealed Professor Sunderland. She pulled Flitwick in front of her, knelt down and pointed her wand at his nose, said a charm and the big, throbbing tomato on Flitwick's face reduced to his small nose. 'Sorry, Filius, I never meant to do that.'

'That's - that's -' Flitwick straightened his glasses and his robes, ruffled his white hair and looked dazed at the presence of Sunderland's face being so close to his, 'quite all right, my dear little cupcake - I mean -' The students broke into fits of laughter, some of them even toppling off their chairs and onto the floor, banging the ground with the hands. Flitwick's face went as red as his nose used to be.

Sunderland grew a grin and stood back up, her wand clutched firmly at hand in case she had to use it again. She took out a book and said, 'Right, do you all have your books out. Great, turn to page a hundred and thirty one on the page about Battle Spells ...'

Several times had Sunderland raised her wand, said a charm and had the room filling with a thick, pink smoke that sparkled. Momentarily, the boys would zone out again and daydream about her and they then found themselves swimming in the pink smoke. They found the lesson funny because whenever she had done that, Flitwick made funny gestures that made them all think that he was incapable of standing.

When the bell hummed through the class the students began to pack and head out for History of Magic, just eager to learn about Hogwarts' sudden history that none of them had known about. Once entering the room, and learning that the Hufflepuffs were joining them, they sat. Harry and Liam were making it possible that they sat next to each other in each and every class just to get to know each other, which left Ron and Callum sitting together and Hermione and Tessa sitting on the other side of Harry and Liam, both seeming to be impotent of talking for they both remained silent.

In came a ghost, with his balding white hair bobbing as he glided and his black eyes peering through the rims of his glasses at a thick book, absentmindedly making his way through his desk and into a chair. Then the clapping of boots sounded in the room and the palest man Harry had ever seen strolled across the classroom floor and made a quick movement to his chair beside Professor Binns.

Victor Von Seiler the Veggie Vampire made almost all his lesson exciting, then boring throughout it. It was probably because they were all fascinated by the fact that they were being taught by a vampire, despite his cravings for tree sap and vegetables. Von Seiler didn't look a day over thirty. He had silky, brown hair combed into a slick do, sparkling auburn eyes, a pale, pointed nose, in fact, if he wasn't a vampire Harry was sure he would have been quite the handsome young man. However, not a handsome man anybody in this era would have wanted; he was skinny and wore robes that were not of this age.

'Cuthbert, there's a class in session, mind you put the book down?' asked Professor Von Seiler.

'In a moment, Victor,' said Professor Binns, 'McFarlarne's added some real good stuff here, it's not only a romance book, you know.'

'He's talking about that romance book by McFarlarne,' said both Hermione and Tessa.

Harry and Liam groaned and dug their faces into their arms. How long were they going to talk about this?

'It's just a book!' said Liam and Harry quietly to the the two girls. Then something dawned on them and they looked at each other. 'You know about the book, but I thought it was only on my side, how -?' They kept asking each other the same question until the other shut up to let the other talk, but before they could, Professor Von Seiler and Professor Binns greeted the class and began the lesson.

'Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazer Slytherin all had friends,' said Von Seiler. 'One to each that helped them come upon the name of the school and a backup name should the school need it, which is indeed why some of you would know this school to be Hogan and other Hogwarts. Hogwarts was the original name but, as smart as Ravenclaw and her dear friend Wolfhowl were, they were able to calculate a great deal of calamity happening to the school in years to come. They even calculated that it might happened years after they, the four founding fathers of our school, might not even be there when it happened.'

'However, there had not only been four founding fathers of the school,' said Binns. 'History has forgotten about the other four. Phelix Phoenixdan, Wilma Wolfhowl, Serus Scorpiosting and Bethany Blinderbowl. Phoenixdan being Gryffindor's friend where they both accepted children who were brave and courageous. Wolfhowl being Ravenclaw's friend where they both accepted children who were smart. Scorpiosting being Slytherin's friend where they both agreed on accepting children who were purebloods and were ambitious, and Blinderbowl was Hufflepuff's friend and they both agreed on accepting children with qualities that were loyalty, patience, and hard work.'

'With that, they all took charge of Hogwarts until Scorpiosting and Slytherin left and everything went topside from then - I'm joking,' said Von Seiler. 'But Slytherin and Scorpiosting really did leave and things really did go a bit rocky from then. Things like the Chamber of Sec - err - I mean, challenges, lots and lots of challenges were met,' Von Seiler added hastily.

'Anyway, the reason the world was split was because of one heroic act done by the fathers of -' Binns was given a very stern stare from Von Seiler, '- err - right, names unknown. This heroic act was to separate the Dark Lords, He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named and Mr Who -' The students gasped. 'Yes, He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named had an accomplice and so did Mr Who, and it happened to be each other. In order to defeat the two was to separate them, and all the pieces sort of fall into play, right?'

Minutes later a bell hummed in the class and the students filed out after learning about the Mirror of Emulation and a secret society that worked against the Ministry's safety rules in order to fight against the Dark Lords. By the end of the lesson both He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named and Mr Who gained a lot more people who feared them.

But there had been one thing that had both Harry and Liam in a state: how both Tessa and Hermione knew of the McFarlarne book when it wasn't on the other side to begin with. However, they thought it must have been something too silly to take note of so they followed the rest and their friends out the door of the classroom, making their way to the entrance hall to have lunch.

They were inches away from joining Callum and Ron - who seemed to be getting along quite well - when a voice stopped them in their tracks.

'Liam!' It had been a woman and a woman with a very calm and soothing voice, though Liam didn't need to turn around to know who she had been, and it made him curious for she had never come around to seeing him before.

'Is that Professor Sunderland?' he asked Harry, then turned around to the blonde teacher. 'It is, but -'

'Scarlet -' said a male voice and a hand curled around her shoulder to pull her into sight, 'have you seen -' Wigan's eyes met Liam. 'Never mind ...'

Harry edged closer to Liam, 'Who is he?' he asked.

'Tom L. Wigan,' answered Liam. 'Our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.'

'Well he looks a far better teacher than Lockhart.'

'Lockhart?'

'Terrible teacher, he is.'

'Liam!' said both Wigan and Sunderland, both of whom then flushed pink and grinned at each other, which made Harry and Liam screw up their faces.

'Yes,' said Liam in order to stop the scene in front of the two of them.

'Oh right,' again, they spoke in unison, but whatever they said was the same but in a different order to the other so it came out like, 'Sting, owled, parents, Venus, asked if I were to, guard, keep, safe, is close -!'

'One at a time, please?'

'Why don't you go first, Scarlet?'

'Oh, well -' She made an impression as though Wigan was displaying an act that was quite new to his personality. 'Your parents owled me, they said to check the Prophet and I did and it said something about Venus Sting being closer to Hogwarts. So they asked if I were to be on your guard in order to keep you safe.'

'Funny, that's exactly what they asked me to do,' said Wigan. He absentmindedly glanced at the floor mulling over thoughts known to only him. 'Anyway, I thought I'd let you know so that you're not caught off guard.'

'Err - thanks, I guess,' said Liam.

'Wait, Venus Sting, you guys have that crazy lunatic on the run, too?' asked Harry.

'Yeah, he's been targeting me and everybody's making a great deal out of it,' said Liam. 'Honestly, I dunno why people are so worked up on this guy, he's only some jail breaker -'

'Who broke out of Kazaban -'

'Azkaban -' Harry corrected Wigan.

'No, Harry, Kazaban,' said Wigan. 'Azkaban is still a part of it but remains impregnable, Kazaban, on the other hand, does not.'

'All right, what I want to know is how this managed to cross both sides when we didn't even know each other then?' asked Harry. 'And how did that stupid romance book Hermione and Tessa keep talking about do the same?'

'What are you talking about -'

'That's a very good question, why, indeed?' said Liam.

Professor Sunderland and Professor Wigan both found themselves screwing up their faces whilst the two boys in front of them contemplated about whatever questions they were talking about.

'It wouldn't happen to be in a book, would it?' asked Liam. 'Then I could ask Tessa to go check it out.'

'Boys,' called Wigan, Harry and Liam faced him, 'what on earth are you talking about?'

'According to Harry, the Venus Sting story crossed his side before the world glued back together,' clarified Liam, 'and apparently, so did the book that McFarlarne guy wrote.'

'Well, I'm sure - sorry, what?'

'Yeah, it did,' said Harry. 'My bully of an uncle called me downstairs after the first news report and told me to go outside until he found me, except he thought he was some crazy gunman who'd kill anyone in sight.'

Professor Sunderland still looked confused but Wigan straightened up and stared at the ceiling, contemplating. Then he looked back at Harry and Liam and said, 'I'm going to see the Headmasters, Sunderland we'll talk about this guard thing for Liam later, there's something really important on my mind that I think only Glumberry and Dumbledore would be able to clarify.'

'All - all right,' she still seemed confused. 'Well - I've got to go and plan the fifth years' O. . Bye, then. Expect to see me a lot, Liam.'

'Bye,' said Harry and Liam and when she was out of sight, Liam added, 'I really wouldn't mind seeing you a lot.' Harry grinned.

'I'm just going to stay very close to you when she is,' said Harry and Liam laughed.

'Then she's going to have to be on guard for both of us,' said Liam. 'But it is odd, though, the Venus Sting thing. How could that be possible - is that a ghost?'

Liam was looking at a pearly white, semitransparent figure who Harry knew at once was Nearly Headless Nick. He was wearing his usual doublet and his head was swaying forward, fighting for the hinge of skin that was held back by his large ruff. He looked quite troubled about something.

'... don't fulfill their requirements ... half an inch, if that ...'

'Yeah, that is. It's Nearly Headless Nick, he's the Gryffindor ghost,' said Harry, who then made a movement towards Sir Nicholas.

'Should I be alarmed by the "nearly headless" bit?' asked Liam and he followed Harry to the ghost. 'Harry?'

'Hey, Nick,' said Harry.

Sir Nicholas was startled to an extent that made his head bounce on his partially severed neck, his ruff flustered about as he turned to look at unperturbed Harry and his wide-mouthed cousin.

'Oh, he - hello, Harry,' said Nearly Headless Nick, 'what can I help you with?'

'Nothing, you just seem a little troubled,' said Harry.

'A matter of no importance ... It's not as though I really wanted to join ... Thought I'd apply, but apparently I "don't fulfil requirements",' said Sir Nicholas. He had an airy tone but look quite bitter. 'But you would think, wouldn't you,' he spat, 'that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?'

'Oh - yeah, I guess,' said Harry, who supposed he might as well agree, but had Liam staring at the ghost with great astonishment and muttering, 'forty-five times!' in Harry's ear.

'I mean, nobody wishes more than I do that it had all been quick and clean, and my head had come off properly, I mean, it would have saved me a great deal of pain and ridicule. However -' Nearly Headless Nick shook a letter open and read, seething:

_'"We can only accept huntsmen whose heads have parted company with their bodies. You will appreciate that it would be impossible otherwise for members to participate in hunt activities such as Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. It is with the greatest regret, therefore, that I must inform you that you do not fulfil our requirements. With very best wishes, Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore."'_

Furious, Sir Nicholas stuffed the letter away.

'Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore.'

'I'm sorry to hear that, then,' said Harry; Liam still shocked by Nick's severed neck.

'I'm sorry, Harry, I've dragged you into this when you're probably not interested,' said Sir Nicholas. 'I should learn to keep my mouth shut, sometimes -'

'And your head screwed on,' said Liam. Harry hit him in the back of the head but couldn't resist himself from laughing.

'Hello, aren't you William Clark,' said Nick.

'Yeah, I am,' said Liam.

'Marvelous - err - I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons tomorrow. Friends will be coming from all over the country. It would be such an honour if you would attend. Your friends, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger would be most welcome, too, of course - but I daresay you'd rather go to the school feast?'

'We'll come - though is Callum and Tessa allowed, too?' asked Harry. 'They're Liam's friends.'

'Of course, of course,' said Nick. 'It would be great to have the Harry Potter and the William Clark at my deathday party, see you then, all right.'

*

Harry and Liam mentioned Sir Nicholas' deathday party to their friends before entering the dungeons for Potions with Snape and the apparently just-as-bad Wolverhampton. They were having the lesson with the Slytherins, and once Henry Nord caught Liam's eye, he smirked and one unpleasant glint played in his green eyes. On behalf of Liam, Callum had explained who both he and the McElroy twins were, which reminded Harry, Ron and Hermione about Malfoy.

Wolverhampton was next to be introduced. The crooked nosed Potion Master bared a remarkable resemblance to Severus Snape. All of it, actually, resembled Snape except for the fact that Wolverhampton had his greasy, black hair tied into a small pigtail at the back of his head, revealing more of his features than the students wanted to see. Potions was made to be the worst lesson now that there had been two Professors of the same type of personality, and Snape and Wolverhampton made sure of it for they had mentioned that they had now, 'two Boys Who Lived that never pay attention in class.'

When making their way to Herbology Harry and Liam spotted Wigan somewhere along the corridor out and Sunderland somewhere near Professor Sprout and Professor Bud's greenhouses before entering them. Harry found that Liam was blushing when Sunderland winked at them, which only made him shake his head with a blithesome smile on his face.

In they walked to the greenhouse and there stood squat Professor Sprout with her patched and battered hat on her short, grey hair, which was as wavy as ever. She beamed at the students but they all couldn't help but notice that her smile was rather happier than it usually was.

Suddenly there had been a loud bang as though a large plate had just shattered. From behind the little, squat Professor came an upturned pot-plant that had a small, snapping plant biting at the air through a crack in the pot. The pot-plant had been placed on a small head of grey curls. Towering that, some inches away, had been stacks of whole pot-plants that were bound to fall and shatter any moment now.

Professor Bud came into sight from behind Professor Sprout, who took no notice of the wobbling tower of pot-plants and instead fluttered her eyelashes at the clumsy wizard in front of her.

'Pomona, I need a bit of assistance, here,' said Professor Bud, but Professor Sprout remained still, dressed in her dirt- and earth-covered robes, fluttering at the wizard behind the horrorstricken pot plants. Any minute now Professor Bud would either trip over his bagging robes or over something on the floor that was probably never there. 'Pomona? Pomona! POMONA!'

Professor Sprout snapped out of her trance and got a shock at seeing Professor Bud handling a stack of pot-plants that were in danger of crumbling on him. Professor Sprout helped get the pot-plants out of the poor hands of the gawky wizard, placed them on the greenhouse tables and tried to establish any cuts or injuries on him.

The lesson was successful, that was only before the two Professors ended their session on how to handle a mandrake plant. After that Professor Sprout resorted back to her trance and Professor Bud's snapping plant warned him when she came a little too close. When the lesson was over, the students made their way back to the castle and to their common rooms, where Harry, Liam, Callum, Ron, Hermione and Tessa, despite Hermione's sour feelings for Liam and Liam's fear of Hermione, they sat together near the fireplace.

'What's up with Wigan and Sunderland?' asked Callum. 'They're everywhere. I saw them when we were going to Herbology, then when we got into the castle. They seemed to be keeping a very stern eye on you, Liam.'

'Yeah, that's because they are keeping an eye on me,' said Liam.

'Why, because you're troublesome?' asked Hermione dryly.

'No,' retorted Liam, 'because of -'

'Venus Sting,' answered Tessa.

'Yes - how'd you -'

'It's obvious, isn't it?' asked Tessa. 'He's after you, remember? It only makes sense for some of the professors to be on your guard. I suppose Dumbledore and Glumberry approved that.'

'No, actually, it was my parents,' said Liam. 'They owled Wigan and Sunderland. I dunno why they asked them but it is what it is, right?'

'Venus Sting, you've got to be joking,' said Hermione acidly, though she sounded as though she had a little bit of remorse for him. 'He's not after you, he can't be, he escaped the prison on our side.'

'Actually, he broke out of the prison on their side,' said Harry. 'Wigan and Sunderland told us when they came to say that they were going to be looking out for Liam.'

'Harry knows?' asked Hermione. 'So he's actually after you?'

'If you need any more clarification, asked anybody,' said Liam, 'they'll tell you about the death threats and how everyone thinks I should be hiding rather than in Hogan - I mean Hogwarts.'

'You have a jail breaker tailing you?' asked Hermione.

'Okay if you're gonna keep asking, I don't think this will get anywhere,' said Liam.

Hermione fell silent for their remaining time in the common room before making their way down to the Great Hall for dinner. She remained silent whilst eating and when they went back up to the common room to relax before going to their dormitories to sleep. Liam seemed most tired and left to the boys' dormitory when the common room was still quite full of students. Harry stared after him for a while, then looked back at his friends; Hermione still quiet but Ron had been beaming at him; Callum and Tessa doing the same.

'So,' said Ron, 'cousin?'

'Yeah, I suppose so,' said Harry. He was quite satisfied. For once in his life he had a wish of his come true, and he remembered well of the time when he talked to Hedwig about having a family that didn't treat him like a bomb that was about to go off. For a moment, he couldn't believe that just upstairs there had been his cousin, sleeping, and about a few kilometres away had been his uncle and aunt living in a home he was hoping to see.

He smiled.

'Liam's a great friend, just so you know,' said Callum. 'Rich, too -'

'Don't tell me you're poor, too!' said Ron.

'No, not at all,' said Callum. 'Far from it, actually.'

'Yeah, go ahead, Callie, boast about the family in front of your new friends,' said a boy with black hair, black eyes and a round nose very similar to Callum's. Next to him stood another boy that looked completely identical to the other.

'Of course, they'll have to reconsider being friends with a boaster,' said the other boy.

'We might be rich, but I have a very big family ... and sadly two of them happen to be a great pain in the neck,' said Callum. 'Go away, Charlie and Richard, hang out with your own friends.'

'We would but they dared us to tick you off before we did,' said Charlie.

'And that's just what we're going to do,' said Richard. But the two twins walked toward Harry before doing anything more. 'Hello, Harry Potter, Richard Thompson, at your service.'

'And Charlie Thompson - I would think of something else to say but he just stole mine, so,' said Charlie. 'How d'you do, dear Potter, enjoying your new cousin - how we know that is quite easy, really, we were born before that weird name they created for the world splitting, so we know of the Headmasters and about you.'

'Well, OK,' said Harry.

'Identical twin brothers!' said Ron. 'You have them, too?'

'Yes,' moaned Callum. 'I don't suppose you have them, too, do you?'

'I do!' said Ron. 'Fred and George. Like you said they're a real pain in the neck.'

'Oh, we met those two,' said Richard. 'Great, they are, you should learn from them, Ronald, you'll get a load of good behaviour from them.'

'Like hell,' said Ron. 'The best behaviour those two would scrap up is being very good Beaters in Quidditch, and when I say that I mean not having to knock the Bludgers in the direction of players heads.'

'Very good behaviour indeed,' chuckled Charlie.

'Beat it,' said Callum. 'You've got your own friends to bother.'

'Fine,' said Richard. 'Just means we'll have to pay you an extra visit tomorrow.'

Charlie and Richard laughed.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' came a booming scream.

Whatever conversations were being held in the common room was abruptly stopped and replaced by suspicious murmurs about who that could have been, but Harry knew who it had been even though he had spent as much as the day could give him with him: Liam.

Alarmed as he was, Harry raced up the stairs, followed by Callum, Tessa, Ron, Hermione and a couple of other curious Gryffindors. Heavy breathing was the first thing Harry heard once he walked into the boys' dormitory, and it was quite fast. Liam was sweating and looked rather pale for someone who had a tanned complexion. He was blinking hard and looked irritable for he had been writhing where he sat.

Harry ran to his side, 'Liam? Liam, what happened?'

Liam didn't respond, he remained blinking, breathing and writhing in the heat only he seemed to have.

'Try slapping him, it really does work,' said Charlie who had been one of the very curious Gryffindors that followed Harry up there.

Harry didn't want to but he did it anyway, though not too hard, it was just a little hit in order to try and snap him out of his trance - or whatever he had.

'Liam - Liam what happened - LIAM!'

'Venus Sting - it was Venus Sting -' said Liam. He stopped writhing and began to quiver. 'He came - he came, like a shadow - a really, really fast shadow - and he had a knife in hand - he was about to kill me - he looked like a large cat - striped cat, like a tiger -'

'It was a dream, Liam, just a dream,' said Harry. 'And how could he have a knife in hand if he was a tiger.'

'He looked like a man and then a tiger, and then back to a man,' said Liam. 'Harry, he was going to kill me, it felt so real - I could feel it when he zipped passed me - and the knife -' He started rocking back and forth.

'Okay, calm down - could somebody get a professor?'

'There's no need, a Gryffindor prefect went to get one as soon as we heard the scream,' said Hermione.

And at that moment a witch in a blue night gown striped in yellow, wearing a floppy hat that was baby blue walked in accompanied by two students who looked like two of the Gryffindor prefects. She walked toward the crowd, pushed aside some students and knelt down at Liam's bedside and Liam already knew who she was.

'McDonald?'

Elaine McDonald had been the Transfiguration professor, the Head of Phoenixdan - now Gryffindor - and vice Headmistress of Hogwarts. She had a very stern face that looked as though somebody had pinched her nose and pulled her skin until her features looked very mousy and hawkish. To top it off, her eyes were pale grey and flecked with silver, but they looked more of a white outlined by a silver circle.

'What happened here?' asked McDonald, but Liam resorted to rocking back and forth in silence.

'He said he had a dream about Venus Sting, with a knife in hand,' clarified Callum.

McDonald looked taken aback.

'All right, Liam, I think this calls for a trip to Madam Pomfrey and Madam Madison,' said Professor McDonald.

'I'm fine,' said Liam. 'Rocking seems to be the best thing to do, but I'm sure I'll get over it, soon.' He really did not want to go to the Hospital Wing.

'Well, only if you're all right,' said McDonald. 'But if you have another dream like that then I think we'll have to take you to the Headmasters to see what's going on in your head.'

Liam nodded and as soon as McDonald stood and was out of earshot, Liam muttered, 'anything but the Hospital Wing.' He'd been there too often last year to dread another visit this year.

'All right, students, I think we all ought to go to bed,' said Professor McDonald.

And no one argued, Harry supposed it was because of her hawkish features that nobody dared even look her in the eyes.

*

Sir Nicholas' deathday party and Hallowe'en approached at last and Liam only recalled having one bad dream about the dreadful Venus Sting. Although, the prior thoughts in which he said he'd do Sting in with the flick of his wand turned into ones of him being chopped into tiny little pieces with the glinting knife that haunted him in his dreams.

At dinner, instead of going to the Great Hall like everybody else where it was decorated with live bats, Hagrid's large pumpkins - carved and lit - and apparently a gang of dancing skeletons for entertainment (rumour had it), Harry, Liam, Callum, Ron, Tessa and Hermione went to Nick's deathday party, but with every step Harry and Liam took they both ended up regretting it more and more.

To the dungeons they went and the passageway going to Nick's party was lined with long, thin, jet-black tapers burning a bright blue. It was so dim that their living faces were casted with a ghostly light. Along with the steps of regret came with a decrease in temperature, whatever they wore tonight deemed useless against the chilling night they were going to face. A thundering sound cut through the night. It sounded like a couple hundred fingernails were scraping a titanic blackboard.

They could hear Sir Nicholas welcoming all his guests. Harry and Liam doubted that they would be able to breath human air in this dungeon, it had been crawling with hundreds of pearly-white, semi-translucent people who were drifting around a crowded dance floor, waltzing to the dreadful sound of the thirty saws, performed by an orchestra on a black-draped platform, raised from the floor.

'Can't we just say we forgot?' asked Liam.

'You said you'd come,' said Hermione.

'No, Harry said we'd come,' said Liam. 'I just stared at him - and may or may not have told him to keep his head glued on.'

'I think we ought to look around,' said Harry.  
>More regret filled Harry and Liam as they passed a group of gloomy nuns, a cheerful Hufflepuff ghost who Harry knew was the Fat Friar, who was talking to a knight with and arrow sticking out of his forehead, and a ragged man wearing chains. They grew hungry and they couldn't any sign of food past the clear bodies of the ghosts - well, unless you're Ron Weasley and you're very hungry.<p>

'Food, over there,' said Ron, pointing to a long table covered in black velvet. As they approached it the most rancid smell meet their noses and it had them stopping in their tracks. There was large, rotten fish on handsome silver platters, burned, charcoal-black cakes were heaped on salvers, maggoty haggis, mouldy cheese, and, in pride of place, an enormous grey cake in the shape of a tombstone forming the words:

. SIR NICHOLAS DE MIMSY PORPINGTON .  
>. DIED 31ST OCTOBER, 1492 .<p>

'Oh, that's putrid!' said Callum.

'I couldn't agree with you more,' said Liam, he looked the other direction in hope of ridding the rancid smell from his nostrils. 'Sorry, but that's more of a rat's banquet.'

'Be nice!' snapped Hermione.

'I would seriously like to know what you have against me!' said Liam.

But she didn't give him an answer, she turned around but immediately turned back to him with a different expression.

'Can we move someplace else,' asked Hermione. 'Somewhere far away from Moaning Myrtle?'

'Moaning Myrtle?'

'She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the first floor,' said Hermione.

'There's a ghost that haunts toilets?' asked Callum.

'Yes, and I really don't want to talk to her,' said Hermione. 'It's been out-of-order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you.'

'Peachy, really brightens up the mood,' said Liam sarcastically yet thoroughly disgusted, 'especially a ghostly mood.'

'Can we please go somewhere else?'

'How about the Great Hall where there's food you could actually eat without it giving you a bad case of a runny tummy?' asked Liam, but Hermione gave him a dry look that gave one clear answer: no! 'Fine - It doesn't matter anyway, she's gone.'

Hermione decided to take Liam's word for it.

'Although, I wouldn't mind having to walk away from this table,' said Liam.

'Me too,' said Harry. 'It's making me hungrier but with more of a sickening feeling to it.'

Hermione got out of Liam's way in order to walk to a different location. As Liam turned around he almost walked through a pale white ghost, with orange eyes and black hair. A ghost - if you could even call him that - Harry knew as Peeves. The startled Liam sported an expression full of both astonishment - of how he stopped before walking through a ghost - and annoyance.

'Oh Potty, I think I annoyed your cuzy wuzy,' said Peeves; Liam screwed up his face and mouthed "cuzy wuzy," to Harry who shook his head. 'Did Clarky have a bad dream? I heards you screamed like a little girl - or like poor Myrtle.' The poltergeist turned to face Hermione who looked startled. 'How rude you was about poor Myrtle, eh, Miss Granger?'

'Oh no, Peeves, please don't -'

'OI! MYRLTE!'

'WHAT!' boomed a voice behind Liam that made him jump toward Harry.

'Okay, if ghosts keep appearing near me like that, I'm gonna have to tape your mouth shut when you talk to them so that I never have to go near one again, ' said Liam.

Moaning Myrtle was a squat ghost of a young girl. Her face had been the glummest Harry and Liam had ever seen, half-hidden behind lank hair and thick glasses.

'Especially that one,' added Liam.

'Miss Granger was just talking about you, Peevsie heards her,' said Peeves.

'Were you mocking me?' asked Myrtle.

'Err - no, actually I was just explaining how lovely you were,' said Hermione, 'right?' She nudged the nearest one of her friends. All of them nodded.

'Don't lie, Granger, I know what people call me behind my back,' snapped Myrtle.

'In that case, she said you're really weepy and you wail and flood the bathrooms - one of them anyway -' Liam said; Hermione gave him another one of her scornful spotlights and Moaning Myrtle broke into sobs of anguish and darted away; Peeves was in hysterics.

'You IDIOT!'

'Takes one to know one, Miss Granger,' said Liam. 'You see, usually I'm a nice guy and I allow people to tell me why they're so rude to me before I be rude to them back - Sadly, you failed. Enjoy this side of me, Granger. Now, may we please go to a place where there's proper food?'

This time Hermione didn't argue with him, they all agreed on leaving to the Great Hall. But then Harry heard it:

'... _rip_ ... _tear_ ... _kill_ ...'

Liam found himself looking around him. Harry screwed up his face; it had been the same murderous voice he heard during detention with Lockhart.

'Did you hear that?' asked Liam. Harry was shocked that he heard it too.

'You heard it too?' asked Harry. 'It said rip, tear -'

'Kill, yeah,' said Liam. 'What is that, it's so - cold and - scary. You know what, I think it's the hunger getting to us -'

'... _so hungry _... _for so long_ ...'

'Definitely not the hunger,' said Liam.

'Quiet, will you?' asked Harry, he walked out of the dungeon trying to follow the voice.

'What is he doing?' Ron asked Liam, though he hadn't been the only one who wanted an answer.

'I think he's following the voice in my head,' said Liam. 'Hey, Harry, wait up!'

They all followed Harry as he ran up the stairs to the entrance hall, following the voice that had been getting fainter and fainter, as though it were moving upwards, and, although Liam heard it too, his cousin began to think he'd been going crazy.

'Harry -'

'SHH!' said Harry. 'Listen - do you hear it.'

'Yes,' replied Liam.

'No,' replied the others.

'Look, Harry -'

'SHH!' said Harry. 'It's moving.'

And Harry ran up the stairs to the first floor, his friends and cousin following him. The voice grew stronger, then fainter:

'... _kill_ ... _time to kill_ ...'

'Did it just say -'

'Yes, it did,' said Harry, cutting off Liam.

'It's not really going to -'

'SHH! Listen -'

'... _blood ... I SMELL blood ... I SMELL BLOOD_ ...'

'Well that's promising to know, thank you,' Liam said to the murderous voice.

'What is?' asked one of their friends.

'Liam -' Liam looked at Harry, '- it's going to kill someone.'

Harry sped up the stairs to the second hall, annoyed, his friends and cousin followed after him. Trying to call him back, Liam ran the fastest but Harry ignored him. He had them running around the whole of the second floor until they came upon a corner into the last deserted passage.

'Harry, what was that all about?' panted Ron.

'Yeah, we couldn't hear a thing,' panted Callum.

'Tess?' said Liam who was looking at a very astonished Tessa. She pointed at the wall behind them and said, 'Look!'

Foot-high words were painted across the wall in oozing, red blood, shimmering from the light cast upon it:

. _THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED .  
>. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE .<em>

'Yep, really promising,' said Liam who looked just as astonished as Tessa.

'Is that Mrs Norris?' asked Ron.

'Mrs Norris?' asked Callum.

'Filch's cat.'

'_Filch_?'

'Never you mind!'

From the torch bracket hung Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, from her tail as stiff as a board and her eyes were wide and staring. She was hanging underneath the bloody message and above a puddle of water.

'We might want to get out of here,' said Liam.

'Shouldn't we help?' asked Harry.

'No!' said Ron. 'We wouldn't want to be caught here with a message written in blood and Filch's cat. Plus - it's Filch's cat.'

It had been far too late for as they turned they met a large group of students pilling into a crowd, surprised at the scene of the hanging cat underneath the message in blood. The six of them stood in the middle before the wall with the oozing blood, Filch's cat and the puddle of water on the ground.

'Enemies of the Heir, beware!' shouted a voice - Draco Malfoy's voice. 'You'll be next, _Mudbloods_!'

Hermione stifled on the spot and face the ground, her actions caught in the corner of Liam's eye. He knew whatever Malfoy had said was something offensive just by the look on Hermione's face. Then he recalled Ron saying something about "Mudbloods" through the Mirror the night they brought the world back together.

He looked at the pale face of Draco Malfoy and said, 'That sounded very rude,' in a very comforting voice that shocked Hermione - she expected snide, rude comments to come out of Liam's mouth now that he confirmed that he's going to be mean to her for as long as she'll be rude to him.

'Why would you care, Clark?' asked another voice, Nord's voice. Liam looked at Nord. For a moment he heard the same murderous voice again only it said what Nord had just said. Then his green eyes flickered red, his hair went brown and his chin sported four, large scars ... and then it was back to his normal pale face with green eyes and pale-blonde hair.

But he continued to look at Nord and he was suddenly reminded of the terrible dream he had of Sting ... a large shadow of a man holding a knife ... the man morphed into an animal ... the animal charged at him ... it felt so real this time and Liam knew he was quite awake ... he stumbled back, slipped on the puddle of water and dozed off after establishing that he had been up against the wall and on the floor; his head had hit the wall.


	9. On Guard

CHAPTER NINE  
>On Guard<p>

A man stood in front of him, breathing heavily and looking stiff. The man's breathing was audible, in fact the only thing heard. The way he stood gave him the impression that he was quite angry, and his hand was clutching something very tightly that it made his whole arm shake. Anything would looked menacing in the absence of light, but to Liam, this man looked more menacing than any other thing, especially now that the unknown object in his hand was revealed as a sharp, shimmering knife.

It wasn't raining nor was there a single thundercloud in the sky, however lighting struck and cast a light upon the man's face, and it took the form of the cheerful guy who stood next to Thomas Clark in a picture up in the attic of Clark Mansion. Except Venus Sting didn't look very cheerful as he stood before Liam. His face was pulled into a deadly stare, as though he was most determine to drive the knife through Liam and chop him up into the little pieces.

Another strike of lightning was cast and Sting was gone. Liam looked around until his eyes met a moving figure on the floor, one that looked like a very large cat. The cat charged for Liam and as it leaped for the little boy it changed back to the tall, shadowed man with the glinting knife in hand -

'Potter, what are you doing here?' asked a voice, one he know belonged to the matron, Madam Madison.

'He's my cousin, and it's been a while since I've seen him,' said Harry.

How long was I out? thought Liam.

'Well, you can come back with your aunt and uncle,' said a voice Liam didn't quite know.

My parents are coming? thought Liam.

'My aunt and uncle are coming?' asked Harry.

'And they're here,' said a male voice, the voice of Thomas Clark. He and his red-haired wife sped across the floor of the Hospital Wing towards Harry. Mrs Clark pulled him into a hug and walked with him to Liam's hospital bed. 'We weren't able to make it the past week, we had a lot of people coming in at the hospital back at London - I had to preform a very complicated surgery on a guy who found a way to shove his hand down his throat.'

'Heavens, Thomas, the poor child doesn't know what we do for a living, to him it just sounds as though you picked up a guy from the side of the road and miraculously pull his hand out of his mouth,' said Mrs Clark. 'We're doctors, Harry, in the Muggle World, though. We find it a lot more comforting than the Wizard World. At least there you barely find people who find bodies parts in regions they're not supposed to be in.'

'I think he picked up that the two of you were doctors way before the hand in throat thing,' said Liam, propping himself on his shoulders. 'It is to say that you preformed a surgery and that you had a lot of people coming to a hospital.'

'Welcome back to earth, Junior, you've been out for ten days, just so you know,' said Mr Clark. 'You hit the wall pretty hard and gained a serious head injury. You almost fell into a coma.'

'Must've been a pretty hard wall, then,' said Liam.

'Actually, you kind of ran into it,' said Harry.

'What!' said Liam.

'Nord asked you why you cared about Malfoy calling Hermione a Mudblood, you looked at him and paced back, slipped on the water puddle and hit your head on the wall,' said Harry. 'Some Slytherins laughed, other's gasped and murmured.'

'The names might have changed but they're still the same mocking house,' said Liam. 'I'd really prefer being back home than the Hospital Wing, you wouldn't understand how many times I had to come here last year, especially because of Ayers injuries.'

'Oh, I learnt about Ayers,' said Harry. 'In fact, there's a match today, and a Quidditch on - do you know what Quidditch is?'

'No, not really,' said Liam.

Harry briefly described what Quidditch was to Liam, it was only then had Liam noticed that Harry had been in his Quidditch robes, ready to play against Slytherin. Liam was noted that this was the first game and it had Draco Malfoy as the Slytherins new Seeker - which apparently was a player who had to look out for a small, golden ball - the size of a golfball - to try and catch it.

Mr and Mrs Clark merely smiled at the two cousins getting along but that was not the thought that had been in their minds, in fact, after Liam had mentioned being home, they were thinking of Christmas, which was around the corner already, and something that involved an invitation and Harry.

'Harry, dear,' said Mrs Clark. Harry came to an abrupt pause in the middle of their discussion of the McElroys, Malfoy and the newest addition, Henry Nord. 'Christmas is coming up and we were wondering whether you'd like to come over.'

Harry would have been jumping on the spot if he didn't want to make them think that he'd gone crazy.

'You really mean it?' asked Harry.

'Oh, of course,' said Mr Clark. 'The Clark Mansion is possibly the best place to be around Christmas. Angie decorates the house, puts up the tree and prepares dinner whist we're outside probably having a snowball war.'

Harry and Liam laughed. Mrs Clark nudged her husband hard in the ribs but gave Harry a very big smile, nonetheless.

'We all decorate the house, and put up the tree,' said Mrs Clark. 'The only thing you're not going to be doing is cooking.'

'Is that really what they do for Christmas?' Harry asked Liam.

'I dunno,' said Liam, shrugging, 'this is going to be my first Christmas with them.'

'It's true,' said Mr Clark. 'And I assure you, it's the first Christmas with us you won't forget. Because, for once, it's going to be a Christmas with father, son and nephew -' another nudge, '- and aunt-mother-type-thing - okay, I'm sorry, just stop nudging me! Your elbow is as sharp as a pin,' he added hastily before Mrs Clark's sharp elbow gave Mr Clark another blow to the stomach.

'Harry, I must warn you, no matter how old your uncle gets he'll never understand the meaning behind growing up,' said Mrs Clark.

'Which is what makes him fun,' said Liam.

'I'm fun, aren't I?' asked Mrs Clark. Mr Clark shook his head behind his wife, but as she looked at him he stopped before she could see anything and said, 'Of course!' She smiled and turned back to get an answer from Liam, who couldn't give one for Mr Clark had shook his head again.

'Well, you're a great cook ...' said Liam; Mr Clark gave him a smile, a wink and one heck of a nod that told him that it was a good thing to say.

'I'm off to my Quidditch match,' said Harry. He stood, told Liam to get well, wasn't allowed past Mr and Mrs Clark unless he gave them a hug - which he did - and left the Hospital Wing.

*

'About time you woke up,' said Liam.

Harry opened his eye. The Hospital Wing seemed very dark and abandoned. He didn't remember what had happened nor why he had been in a Hospital Bed himself, all he could remember was the Quidditch Match against Slytherin, and Gilderoy Lockhart somewhere on the lines of it.

'Why am I in the Hospital Wing?' asked Harry.

'Because you got knocked in the arm by a Bludger, which broke it, then Lockhart tried to fix it only he removed a bone,' said Liam. 'Now you're here, Madam Madison and Madam Pomfrey gave you something to help your bones grow and gave you something in order to make you sleep because they said it would help. Though, I think it was a little too strong cause you barely remember what happened.'

Harry looked at both his arms, one of them was bandaged and felt quite hollow. He flexed his fingers as though it would help get rid of the hollowed feeling.

'Why aren't you sleeping?' asked Harry.

'Because I'm not tired,' said Liam. 'And I kind of knew you'd wake up in the middle of the night and thought you might need a bit of company.'

'Thanks, I guess,' said Harry.

'Hey, I never got around asking about the Chamber of Secrets earlier when Mum and Dad were around, does anybody know of it?' asked Liam.

'Yeah, Binns and Von Seiler, of course,' said Harry. 'Hermione asked, apparently it's a chamber built by Salazar Slytherin who sealed it so that no one would be able to open it until his heir arrived at school. Apparently only the heir would be able to unlock the chamber and "unleash the horror within", and he was the creator of the word Mudblood, he thought that the students admitted here should be Purebloods and Purebloods only. So this "horror within" would be able to rid the school of all Muggle-born students.'

'Is that what Mudblood means?' asked Liam. 'That your Muggle-born.'

'A rude word for it,' said Harry. 'Ron had tried to jinx Malfoy the first time he'd done it. The spell backfired and he began to belch slugs. Though I think it's worn off now, he hasn't been doing it.'

'That would explain a lot,' said Liam. 'It was pretty disgusting but it explains quite a lot. That's actually what made me realise that you could go through the mirror like it was -'

'Like it was what?'

'SHH!' said Liam softly. 'Somebody's coming.'

Harry and Liam lay in their beds in silence, listening. A number of footsteps were making their way to the Hospital Wing door. The two of them dug themselves under the covers and heard the doors crash open. Curious, they both peeped over the blankets spotting Professor Dumbledore, Professor Glumberry, Professor McDonald and Professor Dumbledore heaving a boy into a hospital bed.

'May one of you do us a favour and get the matrons?' asked either Dumbledore or Glumberry, they couldn't tell because they had sounded so similar; it was probably how every elderly wizard sounded; they weren't quite sure of that either because neither of them had spent most of their lives with an elderly person.

McDonald and her hawkish and mousy face sped away towards the matrons' quarters, pulling her night gown tightly around her as to not trip over them as she rushed out of sight. Harry and Liam found the expressions on the Headmasters' faces - and McGonagall's - uncanny. None of them spoke or did anything to gesture that the boy they had laid on the bed was in any type of trouble.

The matrons followed McDonald to the the bed in which comforted the boy within its covers. Harry and Liam could not see from behind the six wizards surrounding the bed, but they had been whispering loud enough for them to hear.

'What happened?' asked Madam Pomfrey.

Both matrons eyes bulged for a moment, then they looked at each other and then at the Headmasters.

'Another attack,' said one of the two Headmasters. 'Minerva and Elaine found him on the stairs.'

'There were a bunch of grapes beside him,' said Professor McDonald.

'We think he may have been trying to sneak up here to see Potter,' said Professor McGonagall.

Immediately, Harry's stomach sunk and erupted with a very gloomy feeling. He peered over more of his blanket, slowly as to not alarm any of the professors or the matrons that he had been awake and aware of their presence. The figure lying on the bed - the boy - lay as stiff he remembered Filch's cat being, with his eyes staring, too.

It had been Colin Creevy, the first-year Gryffindor who adored Harry for having destroyed Lord Voldemort when one. He had his hands stretched out, clutching his camera.

'Petrified?' asked Madam Madison.

'Quite,' said Professor McDonald. 'Though, who would know what might have happened if Albus and Fredrick weren't coming down to get some hot chocolate?'

Dumbledore said nothing but wrenched the camera from Colin's hands.

'You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker, do you?' asked Professor McGonagall.

'There's a possibility,' said Dumbledore as he opened the back of the camera.

'Good heavens!' snapped both matrons with a voice so loud Harry swore he saw Liam's head jumping from where it lay, then his face screwed up for a smell had wafted their direction, the smell of burnt plastic.

'Melted!' said Madam Pomfrey. 'The whole thing, melted ...'

'What do you suppose this means?' asked Professor McDonald, appointing both Professor Dumbledore and Professor Glumberry.

'Well,' said Glumberry, his voice with a hint of anxiety, 'obviously, it means that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed opened.'

The matrons clapped their hands to their mouths with such an effort that it cracked through the air, making Liam's head jump again.

'But, it can't be - who?'

'Not who, dear Minerva, how, is the question,' said Dumbledore. 'How has somebody managed to open it after so many years.'

'Well, we can't leave it to vanquish Hogwarts,' said Professor McDonald. 'We've got to do something or we'll have to close the school down.'

Harry looked at Liam who managed to reflect the same expression he had on his face: bulging eyes and quite a pale face.

'And we will do something,' said one of the Headmaster who Harry then established was Glumberry for he had looked at them once again. 'However, none of us are more experienced and equipped for the dangers that might occur than Tomson. I will be asking one of you to call him right away.'

'Will do,' said McDonald and she started for the door.

'Do apologise when you wake him, Elaine,' said Glumberry. 'We don't want to be rude. And maybe Gilderoy, either one will be good, I think.'

'Of course, Fredrick,' said McDonald and she left the room.

'How is Wigan going to help, might I ask?' probed McGonagall. 'You know that he's on guard for Clark already. He can't do both.'

'Oh, Minerva, but he can,' said Dumbledore. 'He was quite a persistent young man when he was a student here, and I think you know that he is still that young man he was. Tom will be doing his duties as Mr Clark's guard during the day whilst he roams around the castle from class to class. Whereas during the night, Mr Clark is asleep and does not need neither Tom nor Scarlet to be looking over his shoulder for Sting, therefore, he can assist us in finding whoever's behind opening the Chamber of Secrets.'

'You needed me, Headmasters?' said the voice of Tom L. Wigan.

'Tom,' said Glumberry, who flickered a joyful smile at the presence of the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. 'We need you to do us a favour.'

'Of course,' said Professor Wigan, 'anything.'

'Would you happen to know who this is?' asked Glumberry, pointing at stiff Colin the bed.

'Colin Creevy,' said Wigan who looked quite thrown by the little boy's petrified body, 'why?'

'As you can see, he is petrified,' continued Glumberry, his hands behind his back. 'Which means that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed opened. No, we do not know who the culprit is, and that applies to how they had done it. We need you to figure out who that person is and how they had done it.'

'Well, wouldn't the Heir of Slytherin be able to open it?' asked Wigan.

'As far as we are concerned, there is no descendant of either of the eight followers of this school being educated by our teachers - not yet, anyway,' said Dumbledore. 'We are concerned that whoever opened the Chamber has unleashed a very deadly accomplice to Salazar Slytherin, himself, and we do intend on keeping it trapped in the Chamber or we'll be having to deal with a great number of petrified students in this very Hospital Wing.'

'If that's what you need me for, then I'll do it,' said Wigan. 'Although, there is no guarantee that I would actually turn up with any student, but I do have some news that I thought you ought to know, McDonald found me on my way here because I was looking for the two of you and a portrait slipped that you were in the Hospital Wing.' Dumbledore and Glumberry, in Harry's view, seemed rather taken aback and curious of why Wigan needed to see them in the first place. 'In my persecutive, I thought students would be scared to death about the Chamber of Secrets, so I would have expected there to be a student walking around, Slytherin, I think he was. Saw a bit of green on him.'

'A student had been walking around?' asked Dumbledore. Wigan nodded. 'At this time, whilst there's a monster petrifying students.' Wigan nodded once more. 'You say he was a Slytherin?'

'Yeah,' said Wigan. 'But I don't think there's any use in finding him, I didn't catch his face or a name and I think he was heading for the dungeons to the Slytherin common room.'

'Keep an eye on Slytherin, Tom -' Dumbledore seemed uneasy at saying that name, 'if he turns up at night again then he'll be a suspect.'

'I - I'm not sure about that, Albus,' said Wigan. 'The boy seemed young, as though he were in the first- or second-year. I don't think any of the children would have opened the Chamber, it's more a joke to teens, maybe one of them opened it.'

'You may be right, Tom,' said Glumberry, 'but at a dire situation as such, were have to take all matters into account.'

'Absolutely, sirs,' said Wigan, although he sounded unsure. Professor Dumbledore placed Colin's camera on a bedside table next to the hospital bed he lay in. Then he stood back staring at the stiff first-year. He turned to Glumberry. 'I think it were better for us to rest, now. Thank you Minerva and Elaine for your assistance, and Tom -' Dumbledore looked at Wigan for a moment, a moment that had gone by as fast as it took for the two Transfigurations teachers to disappear out of sight, 'thank you - for agreeing to do this - this - task, for us.'

'Anything, sir,' said Wigan. Dumbledore continued to stare at Wigan with a look of pure innocence, as though Wigan were some time of evil man and Dumbledore was begging him for mercy. Dumbledore grew a grin, scoffed, patted Wigan in the shoulder and strolled pass him to the door; the matrons now happily in their residence.

'Good old Tom - always so mannered,' said Dumbledore. 'Good, good boy.'

Glumberry stood and stared after his friend with a quite anxious expression. He looked at Dumbledore as though he were showing a side of him he had never shown in his life, nonetheless, he followed after, only to be called back by Wigan.

'Professors, you haven't thought much of the question I ask you, have you?' asked Wigan. 'About Venus Sting happening to appear on both sides, and the same with that McFarlarne book?'

'We have thought a lot on that part, Tom,' said Glumberry, 'matters to which we have wondered, ourselves, and merely guessed an answer: whoever thought of the great plan to undo the Mauris Unicae through the Mirror of Emulation did a very good job at it. As you can see, it worked, and we think that he left clues left in the plain for us to discover, such us Venus Sting and Robert McFarlarne's book. Clues to which we should have plainly seen.'

'So this unknown person who made Ron and Liam stick the world back together, they wanted us warned?' asked Wigan. 'They wanted us to know?'

'Well, we're not entirely sure, Tom,' said Glumberry. 'We guessed, remember?'

Wigan stood on the spot before making his own way out of the Hospital Wing, and once he had left both Harry and Liam leapt out from out of their covers first looking at Colin Creevy, then at each other.

'Colin Creevy?' asked Liam. 'You have a fan?'

'Yeah,' said Harry glumly, but his mood enlightened almost at once. 'Did you hear what Wigan said, about the random Slytherin student?'

'Yeah, but that's not on the top of the list of curious things,' said Liam, 'what about this thing about Sting and the McFarlarne book. That guess was pretty accurate, if you ask me.'

'Well then there's a lot of things to think about, then,' said Harry. 'What d'you think could have happened to Colin - Dobby?'

'Dobby?' asked Liam, who hadn't been looking at Harry at the moment but had his eyes bulging as soon as he looked at his cousin; Dobby had been standing on top of Harry. 'What is that?'

'Pleasure to me you, William Clark, Dobby musts say,' said Dobby, and he gave a very low bow so that his pencil-tip nose dug into Harry's leg.

Flabbergasted, Liam said, 'Harry, it knows my name ...'

'It's a house-elf,' said Harry. 'And this particular house-elf got me locked up in my room up at the Dursley's.'

Dobby looked very ashamed but then bubbled up again as though he had suddenly taken a sip of the sweetest coffee in the world.

'Dobby the House-elf, William Clark, and Dobby is so grateful that he is now in the same room with both Harry Potter and you,' said Dobby.

'Well, thank you,' he couldn't think of anything else to say.

'Dobby, what d'you want, now?' asked Harry.

Dobby looked very ashamed again and he clutch the hem of the pillowcase he wore with all his might.

'Harry Potter came back to school,' he whispered miserably. 'Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you listen to Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?'

Harry watched as Liam screwed up his face but ignored it anyway. He kept staring at the wide, tennis-ball eyes that were glistening green in the dark.

'What're you doing her Dobby?' asked Harry. 'And how'd you now I missed the train?'

A single tear escaped one of Dobby's tennis-balls for eyes.

'It was you!' he said slowly. 'You stopped the barrier from letting us through!'

'Indeed yes, sir,' said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping about. 'Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward' ('WHAT?' asked a very horror-stricken Liam) - he showed Harry ten long, bandaged fingers - 'but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!'

He was rocking backward and forward, shaking his ugly head.

'Dobby was so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir ...'

Harry slumped back onto his pillows.

'You nearly got Ron and me expelled ... you better get lost before my bones grow back, Dobby, I might just strangle you death.'

'Dobby is used to death threats, sir,' said Dobby.

'Well that's not right, how come?' asked Liam.

'Dobby's masters, sir, are not the nicest persons to be around - oh, Dobby speaks ill of his masters - must not do that, must not do that - naughty Dobby -' and Dobby went leaping for Harry's side table, determined to have his head hit it hard.

'Good lord!' said Liam with wide eyes. 'What's the matter with you, Dobby.'

'House-elves, they can't really insult their masters,' said Harry. 'I learnt that the hard way.'

'Well, he seemed to be well on the right track until he went plummeting to the side of your desk,' said Liam. 'All they've got to do is stop hurting themselves.'

'Dobby, are you all right?' asked Harry.

Dobby pounced back on top of Harry, dazed. His ears were crooked, eyes in different directions and the pillowcase he wore was swaying as he stumbled in circled. With one vigorous shaking head Dobby was back to his usual self and resorted to looking ashamed.

Harry's eyes were stuck on the dirty pillowcase, it disturbed a lot, 'Dobby, why do you wear that thing?'

'Tis a mark of the house-elf's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his masters present him with clothes, sir. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house forever.'

'Well that's just cruel!' hissed Liam.

'And one last thing ... ooh, Dobby mustn't! Dobby mustn't!' roared Dobby, Harry and Liam both trying their best to shut the little elf up. 'Oh - Harry Potter must go home, Dobby thought his Bludger would have been enough to make -'

'Your Bludger. What d'you mean your Bludger?' asked Harry. 'You made the Bludger try and kill me!'

'Not kill you, sir, never kill you!' said Dobby, shocked. 'Dobby wants to save Harry Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here, sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!'

'Wait, you're the reason he's in the Hospital Wing?' asked Liam. 'Get a grip Harry, you're losing bones for an elf.'

'So you were moving that Bludger this whole time?' asked Harry.

'Dobby is truthfully sorry for sir's missing bones, Dobby has to blame himself - stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' said Dobby. 'Terrible things are going to happen to Hogwarts, it's possibly happening now. Dobby cannot allow Harry Potter to stay here, and now that the Boys Who Lived are reunited, Liam Clark, too! History is repeating itself, the Chamber of Secrets is opened -'

'There's an actual Chamber of Secrets?' asked Liam. 'That means that monster's real, too, and it's doing some damage on the students here.'

'You said the Chamber was opened before,' said Harry, 'who, Dobby, who opened the Chamber before?'

'Ask me not, sir, please ask me not!' wailed the elf. 'I mustn't tell, mustn't disobey my master!'

'I think you ought not to ask any more, Harry,' said Liam. 'He's pretty - shocking.'

'Dobby must leave, now, sirs,' said Dobby. 'Dobby needs to pin his hands to the wall once he gets home for Dobby had again gone somewhere without his masters' permission.'

'No, don't do that, Dobby -' Too late, Dobby had gone and Liam was torturing himself with the poor elf's bandaged hands being pinned to a wall. 'That elf has got some serious issues.'

*

Hermione and Tessa ensured that they brought every last bit of homework up to Liam and Harry in the Hospital Wing. Overall, Potions was a boatload which they supposed was because Snape and Wolverhampton didn't particularly like either of them. Charms, they merely had to memorise a spell, Defence Against the Dark Arts was something of a bad mix up between a good lesson and one full of only Lockhart.

Still, they were stuck in the Hospital Wing with nothing but their homework and the each other to keep entertained. The nights were beginning to get so dull that the two of them bored each other out of their own wits. It was odd that finally they both had another person to hang out with whenever they needed them and they had nothing to talk about. So one night days after Harry and Liam's encounter with Dobby, and after they finished their homework, they both lay in bed in silence, looking for something to talk about when:

'... rip ... tear ... kill ...'

They both jumped. Just when they though the miserable days stuck in the Hospital Wing couldn't get any more boring. No matter how murderous this voice sounded, they both finally had something to do even if it were sometime after bedtime.

They slowly and sturdily got out of bed and made for the door in the most silent manner they could have mustered. The voice was quite clear from where they stood, but it kept getting fainter which was one thing they both couldn't understand. However, they followed nonetheless but came to a quick stop for they knew they were both quite visible and that the professor they saw in front of them would be able to see them; especially now that he seemed to have been throttling a student already.

'Come on,' said the professor, he sounded much like a grunting version of Wigan. 'Get a move on, Nord!'

'I didn't do anything, I swear!' said who was supposedly Nord. 'Let go of me!'

'Not a chance,' said Wigan, taking a firm grip around Nord's arm and making sure not a single wriggle would loosen his grip. 'You're going to have to see either the Headmasters or the Vice Headmistresses. They told me to do it and I don't intend on failing.'

Harry and Liam briefly looked at each other then followed after Wigan and Nord, who had been jumping and wriggling about, trying to get the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor off of him. They came up to a lit up office. Wigan pushed Nord into the office and a startled voice sounded the corridor.

'Wigan, what on earth -' asked McGonagall.

'Glumberry and Dumbledore told me to look out for any student roaming around the corridors after hours, I've found one,' said Wigan. 'Nord was on the first floor near that out-of-bounds bathroom that ghost haunts, you know, the one that wails all night.'

'Yes, Moaning Myrtle, we know,' said McDonald. 'And you suppose he might be the culprit?'

'Well, yeah,' said Wigan.

Both professors gave a long sigh of depression.

'Tom, he's only a second-year student,' said McGonagall. 'What could it have mattered if he happened to be roaming around the girls' bathroom on the first floor, if anyone knows he may have been leading upstairs. The Slytherin common room is in the dungeons. However sneaking out after dark is still a broken law and cannot go unpunished, ten points from Slytherin house, you may leave, Nord.'

Nord roughly pulled his arm out of Wigan's grip, gave both him and McGonagall a sour look and went storming out of the classroom. Harry and Liam attempted to hide in the shadow of the corridor some few metres away from Professor McDonald and Professor McGonagall's office. For a moment the Slytherin boy looked quite curious down the corridor in which Harry and Liam hid, but he did not manage to see them. He turned the other way and headed straight for the stairs leading down, probably back to the dungeons.

'It was not my word that we have to take everything into account, Dumbledore and Glumberry told me that it's quite possible that anyone could have done it,' said Wigan. 'I dunno why a boy would be doing near that cooky bathroom, anyway. Besides, it's a girls bathroom and the stairs aren't anywhere near them, nor are the dungeons.'

'He could have been following something he knew not of the properties, Wigan, he's a little twelve-year old boy,' said McDonald. 'What good is a twelve-year old to the Chamber of Secrets. Nobody knows where it is and nobody knows how to open it except the Heir of Slytherin themselves. And it doesn't mean because he's a Slytherin he'll automatically be the Heir, anyone of the students, whether Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin or Gryffindor could have been the Heir, no one knows.'

'You can keep your suspicions, but I know for a fact that Nord as something to do with,' said Wigan. 'Good night, Professors.'


	10. Christmas Surprises

CHAPTER TEN  
>Christmas Surprises <p>

After many weeks in the Hospital Wing, the Christmas holiday finally arrived and that meant that the Clarks were taking Harry home for Christmas. They couldn't help feeling that somehow Dobby would have found a way to prevent them from returning to Hogwarts from the Clark's, and so they kept a watchful eye for the elf. Harry felt a bit convicted once he figured Mr Clark's 1934 Chevrolet Master was a flying car for he had enough encounters with a flying car that had him on the edge of his seat for the rest of the trip.

But it was erased the moment he saw the house when they had arrived. It hadn't been a house at all, it had been a manor, and a rather large one at that. Mr Clark had landed on the tarmac road that led to the wrought-iron, black gates which stood as the entrance to the elongated driveway. Snow was packed on the tarmac but made the trip no less smoother. The black gates were tacked with flecks of snow, and in the middle of the intricate patterns was a "C" pasted with more flecks and pressed boldly against the cold day.

The gates opened slowly, leading the car along a driveway that should have been cobblestone but had been painted by a thick blanket of snow. Ahead of them was the Clark Mansion, standing mighty and high, its marvellous roof powdered with white and windows were all misty. Mr Clark turned the car away from the house and into a garage. The garage had been big enough for one other car.

Mr Clark was the first to get out of the car, being the most excited about this family Christmas than any of them. Astonished by the size of his cousin's house, Harry got out next with his eye glued on the marvellously enormous figure standing high above the ground. Harry automatically edged closer towards the pathway to the house but stopped outside the garage in awe.

'Welcome to our manor,' said Mr Clark. 'Or, as I like to call it, Clark Mansion.'

'Your uncle likes naming things, Harry,' said Mrs Clark as she hauled Harry and Liam's trunks into Liam's hand who then dropped them onto the snow. 'It apparently makes it easier for him. It's just nauseating for me.'

'Hey, you liked Clark Mansion,' said Mr Clark. 'You said it fitted the house. And ... what about Clark Junior, the little tyke is a minnie me.' Mr Clark ruffled Liam's hair. 'All right, I've got the keys. I'm sure Sammy's got dinner ready, if not maybe Liam could show you around, Harry.'

'Yeah, I'll do that,' said Liam, heaving his trunk from under Harry's. Mr Clark walked off toward the large manor. Harry seized his trunk and followed Liam toward the manor.

Marble stairs lead to a large pillared veranda where yet another "C" had been drawn in mosaic on the floor. In front, embedded into the grey walls, stood a handsome, burnished, auburn, wooden, double-arched door with two brass knobs and a etched keyhole to which Mr Clark had been fiddling the keys into. Beside the wooden door, about Mr Clark height, on a square, golden sheet drilled into the wall, in black print, read:

MANOR RESIDENCE OF CLARK:  
>101 UPTON STREET, COUNTRYSIDE<br>LONDON

'Countryside?' murmured Harry, he remembered a certain little news report about a mansion in the countryside in London. 'In London ... your manor, Sting was going for your manor, wasn't he?'

'It's clear now, isn't it?' asked Liam. 'He's after me. But the reason he couldn't find it is because nobody can find this place, oddly. I dunno why, but it is like that.'

Mr Clark had gotten the door unlocked and pushed it opened. There before yet another auburn, double-arched wooden door stood a dumpy, young man with his mousy face into a smile and his short, brown hair combed neatly. He wore polished black shoes, black trousers, a coat with a long tail that curled once it touched the ground, a waistcoat and turned down collared shirt with a bow tie neatly around his neck.

'Evening, Sammy,' said Mr Clark. 'Was the house as quiet as the decade we we weren't here.' Mr Clark's jovial tune reduced once he said the word "decade".

'Indeed, it was, Master Clark,' said the dumpy man, Samuel Lachlan.

'Again, Sammy, it's just Thomas,' said Mr Clark. 'Sammy, this is my nephew, Harry, Harry Potter. Yes, the Harry Potter. You can just call him Harry.' He said that before Sammy could called Harry "Master Potter". 'Well, I'll be in my office before dinner. Sammy, why don't you put the boys' trunks upstairs whilst you two can go looking around the house?'

'Right away, sir -' Sammy was about to take Liam and Harry's trunks but Mrs Clark took them first, gave Sammy a smile and turned to Harry.

'Harry, dear, Liam's room is rather big and I wonder whether or not you'd like to room with him or in a guest room, which we could obviously make into your room, of course?' asked Mrs Clark.

'I think rooming with Liam would be fine,' said Harry.

'There's only one bed in there, Mum,' said Liam.

'Leave that to me,' said Mrs Clark.

Both Mr and Mrs Clark sped up the stairs, Mrs Clark heaving the trunks behind her as she did. Sammy waddled to the left to a rather large room and out of sight. Liam stood staring at a awestruck Harry who had been admiring the house of his other family.

'So, where should we start?' asked Liam. 'The kitchen's quite big - really big, actually - but there's also the lounge, the dining room ... ooh, I've got a screening room, it's this really big white sheet of screen and a projector. It's connected to the television so it's kind of like having my own movie cinema.'

'Wait, technology?' asked Harry. 'You have technology?'

'How'd d'you think the lights turned on?' asked Liam. 'I live in London, Harry, of course there's going to be technology. Mum might be a pureblood but Dad's a Muggle-born, so he's kind of used to technology. And I think Mum didn't have much of a choice to adapt to it, apparently they were trying to rid this place of magic so they used a lot of electricity to rule it out. Which is why I think nobody can really find this place.'

'Why would they do that?' asked Harry.

'Dunno,' said Liam. 'Safety, I guess.'

'From what?'

Liam shrugged.

'All right, enough with just standing here, time to show you around,' said Liam. 'My dad told me a whole load of weird names when I arrived back from our trip to Brazil, stuff like the Great Hall, which I like to call the Mess Hall or the Dining Hall because it's used for dining. But there's stuff like the Solar, which is the second floor where our rooms are, but I think I should introduce this part first.'

Where they stood was a large, circular hall, with polished, wooden floors, cream walls, ceilings ceiled with oak and a split staircase leading up to the door upstairs. The staircase had been railed with a wooden banister. Beneath the door above was another door. On one side where the stairs start was an arched opening to one room and an identical opening on the opposite side. Liam waited for Harry to ask where they go next, Harry pointed at one of the arched openings.

Liam led him through to a large lounge also ceiled with oak and floored with polished wood. The lounge consisted of many leather sofas, couches and armchairs, piled with pillow which were situated around a large, rectangular coffee table. Up against the wall had been a wide television. The ceiling had circular lights above them, all of which could be adjusted to be dimmed or bright; Liam had shown Harry with the knob beside the light switch.

'Lounge number one,' said Liam. 'You could reach this room in the hall behind that door. It's all connected, see.' Liam pointed at the door pressed against the wall directly opposite the television. 'Come on, let's check out lounge number two.'

Lounge number two was not any different to lounge number one, except the fact that it had been bigger and had been connected to the kitchen. There had been a large dining table in between the lounge and the kitchen, but, although Liam had told Harry that it had not been the dining room, it seemed as though they always ate there for the table had been ready and set for dinner. This room had been in the other arched opening. There had been no door leading to the hall, but there had been a door that had lead to the screening room Liam had talked about.

Liam didn't take Harry to the kitchen, he lead him out lounge number two and back into the hall with the split stairs, towards the door directly under the leading to the bedrooms, and into a darkened hall enclosed with doored walls and an opening to the kitchen. Liam switched on the light, showed Harry the door to lounge number one and made his way up the hall to another door that led to a large room with a large dining table. Above it was a diamond chandelier that Liam hadn't a clue of how to switch on. But it did not matter for the room had lights too, and candles lined across the middle of table on a thin cloth.

Further into the hall was another door which lead to a small chapel. It hadn't been very big but it would be able to seat a household or two. The chapel was covered in tiles, the windows were arched and had biblical moments in mosaic, colour and giving the room a colour presence whenever the sun would shine upon it. There had been a portable altar near the priest's stand, and on the priest's stand lay an open bible. On the far end, high on the wall was a large, wooden cross.

They went into the opening where the kitchen was. It was large indeed and needed more than one room to fit. From the dining table, you were able to see the counter and the small wooden flap that allowed you to walk into the kitchen. That area is where the stoves, ovens, microwaves, cabinets, cupboards, and fridge were. Further into the kitchen was a rocked oven that work like a furnace. Liam hadn't a clue how to work that out either.

Even further, you would find the large pantry where the largest supply of snacks, sweets, drinks and more in shelves and on the floor from both the Muggle and Wizard world. Before leaving Liam nicked a chocolate chip cookie for both him and Harry. They walked to the very end where there had been a large, round circular door. Behind it had been the largest supply of liquor and wines from both worlds. However, Harry was warned not to go in there.

'Why?' asked Harry.

'It's Dad's buttery,' said Liam. 'We're not particularly allowed to go into Dad's anythings, not even the office upstairs.'

'Why?'

'Dunno.' Liam stood staring at the pantry in want of another cookie. 'Come on, to the second floor we go.'

Harry followed Liam up one of the stairs. On both sides stood a large bookshelf filled with books Harry was sure belonged to Mrs Clark. They were lead into yet another hall lined with doored walls, all, apparently, were bedrooms. In the middle had been a stairway to the third floor. On the far end had been Mr and Mrs Clark's bedroom, a room Liam has never seen nor planed on visiting. Liam showed Harry his large room, which Mrs Clark now made into a room with two beds and their trunks at the foot of it.

Then they went upstairs where Harry had met the desolate hall to Mr Clark's office. And finally they went upstairs to the dusty attic where they had not planned on staying.

'You said you had an art room ...'

'The art room is on the first floor next to the screen room,' said Liam. 'It's actually a gallery, really, but I was never allowed in there. It's filled with pictures of the past. Mum says there's a piano in there.'

'And you also said that there's a fifth floor,' said Harry.

'That's what they said, too,' said Liam. 'I've never seen the fifth floor but apparently there is one.'

Christmas arrived and Harry began to enjoy living with the Clarks. He and Liam would usually sit in their room, finally having something to talk about or, if not, in the second lounge, wrapped in warm, winter clothes, in front of the television, sipping on a mug of homemade hot chocolate made by Mrs Clark. In fact the second lounge was more of a bedroom to them than the actual bedroom because they would both fall asleep on the comfortable, leather couches. Mr Clark would have to carry them off to their room after a while.

Christmas Eve Mrs Clark came back home with a load of Christmas decorations. With the help of magic, Mrs Clark had done the outside of the manor and most of the inside. But things like the Christmas tree was done as a family. Liam and Harry helped Mrs Clark bake a fruit cake for dinner the next night, then Mr Clark took the two of them for a long walk on a forest trail behind the manor. Although it had been packed with snow, Harry and Liam still felt as though they had been transported into a jungle of trees.

The trail led to a place called St. Lucy's, a supposedly luscious and green place with hills. There usually was a park where kids could play on but because of the snow, nothing was able to move anything. From one of the hills you were able to see a large lake down the hill, but it have been frozen solid. On top of that hill Mr Clark suggested they played a game where they try and knock each other off the hill so that they go rolling down it. Harry and Liam planned to team up against him but ended up losing the game altogether.

On Christmas whilst Mrs Clark was cooking dinner, the boys were outside having a snowball war and again Harry and Liam teamed up against Mr Clark eventually they conquered him and went inside when it was getting dark. By then, dinner had been ready and they were eating on the dining table in the second lounge. The table had been set any ready and had food all over it. Once they were seated, they prayed - one that particularly thanked God for bringing family back together - and dug in.

'Lovely roast, dear,' said Mr Clark. 'I think it's the best you've made in a decade.'

'I haven't cooked in the last decade,' said Mrs Clark.

'Mmm ... I'm going to get something from the buttery, I think I have a kiddies bubbly for the two of you somewhere,' said Mr Clark.

He took a mouthful of roast and mashed potatoes, which made his cheeks full of food, and disappeared into the kitchen. Mrs Clark frowned and a cheerful Liam asked, 'What's wrong Mum?'

'Your father!' said Mrs Clark. 'He filled his mouth and ran.'

'It's your fault you made the food so good, otherwise he would have taken his plate with him to throw it out,' said Liam.

Harry and Liam laughed but Mrs Clark gave them both cheeky smiles that said at-least-it's-good-food.

'A cider for us,' said Mr Clark as he came back putting two bottles on the table, 'and a bubbly for you two, none alcoholic.'

'Of course,' said Harry.

'Fizzy apple juice, more like,' said Liam.

Mr Clark took the bubbly, popped the cork and looked at the label.

'Mmm ... I've never seen this type of bubbly before,' said Mr Clark. 'A friend sent me this, said it was for Liam but I don't think it would really matter if Harry were to have some.'

'No thanks,' said Harry before Mr Clark was able to tip the drink into his glass. 'I'm good, not really thirsty.'

'I'll have some,' said Liam. 'It'll work good with the food.'

There was silence for a while after Mr Clark had poured some of the bubbly into Liam's glass. The clinking of cutlery was the only thing they heard in that silence. Mr Clark's eyes were stuck on his plate but Mrs Clark kept glancing over at Harry.

'Sorry to mention, Harry, but you remind me so much of James,' said Mrs Clark. 'I know I was only ten months older, but I always felt as though I had to look after him. Now with you in my life, I guess I have that opportunity. But your eyes, your eyes are different. Your eyes are like you mother's, and it reminds me of how Lily and I would be like at school.'

'Don't even mention James and I at school, we were one thing to the other,' said Mr Clark. 'We were good at school, but when I say that I mean we got good marks, but our behaviour ... I think we were the best troublemakers of all time.'

Harry felt rather cheerful at the news about his parents, but he felt rather left out all the same. Of course, Angela and Thomas Clark were his aunt and uncle but for the past decade he'd never experienced an aunt and uncle that had treated him more than a nephew, like a son. He didn't know how he should behave, he didn't know their standards. He didn't know how they would react if he were to do something entirely different to how they would have done it and whether they'd think he was a child worth wanting over. So he was rather worried about doing something wrong or he'd be seeing Clark Mansion for the last time.

'Harry, I want to ask you something,' said Mr Clark after an hour of talking about James and Lily Potter. They had finished the dinner and went on to the deserts, along with the fruit cake, Mrs Clark had prepared for Christmas. 'This is about Christmas, Liam asked us not to get him a present because he's already happy with what we have. But that left you present-less. So Angie and I were thinking,' Mr Clark took his wife's hand as he said that, 'we wanted to know if living with us would be a perfect Christmas present. Seeming as we don't quite know you well enough to buy you something you'd like.'

Liam's face lit up and Harry felt his inside bubbling up with joy; he really was going to see this place again; it still had him worried, though. Harry thought about it. Yes was his answer whether the Dursleys liked it or not.

'I mean, we understand it you'd rather stay with the Dursleys, although I wouldn't know why you would because they are quite, you know, but -'

'Yes!' said Harry. 'I'd love to live with you guys.'

'Well, that's wonderful, we have another son living under our roof,' said Mrs Clark; Harry smiled. 'We'll talk to the Dursleys about this, we hope that they would allow us, I mean, they are you current guardians and we would be inconveniencing them if we don't. This is so exciting!'

'Sir!' Sammy came in with haste, dropping down to Mr Clark's ear so that he could tell him something. After a while, Mr Clark's happy expression dropped. Shadows were casted on the outline of his face as though he suddenly grew sick. Sammy went away after Mr Clark told him to do something.

'Honey, something wrong?' asked Mrs Clark, squeezing his hand. Mr Clark didn't answer. 'Thomas?'

'Boys -' said Mr Clark suddenly, 'I - err - I think the both of you should go upstairs, now.'

'Thomas, what's wrong?'

'Angela and I need to have a little talk,' said Mr Clark.

'About what?' asked Liam.

'Drink up, you can finish your cake up in your room,' said Mr Clark. 'Come one!'

Liam swallowed his drink and him and Harry seized their plates and made off up the stairs and into their room.

'What do you think they're talking about?' asked Harry.

'My guess, something bad,' said Liam. 'Though I think it's about Venus Sting.'

'Probably,' said Harry. 'But what is so important about him that's gotten Mr Clark like that?'

'Well he's after me,' said Liam. 'Probably means he's followed us back here.'

'Or that he's at Hogwarts,' said Harry. 'Though, I'm sure Dumbledore and Glumberry would do something. Mr and Mrs Clark have already gotten Wigan and Sunderland on you tail, they'll be able to knock him off. I mean, they are the Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors.'

'Yeah ... yeah, that's ... that's it ...' Liam's voice was trailing away, stifled behind heavy breathing.

'Liam, are you all right -' Liam fell to the floor with a loud thud, unconscious. Harry stood in his spot, wide-eyed and shocked. The plate in his hand slipped and fell, shattering into little pieces along with the blob of cake that stuck to the ground. Then he ran, out the room, across the hall, down the stairs and to the dining table in lounge two, where Mr and Mrs Clark were. 'LIAM'S KNOCKED OUT! LIAM'S KNOCKED OUT!'

The two of them stood rooted to the spot, staring at Harry as though they hadn't a clue of who he was. Then they stomped passed him, mounted the stairs and barged into Liam's room, finding him on the floor undoubtedly unconscious, or under different circumstances, dead. Liam's mouth lay open and Mr Clark found something odd about it; the inside of his mouth was turning blue. Mr Clark went to Liam's cupboards, took out a fresh earbud and scraped a bit of his spit from the one side of his cheek.

He held the now sodden earbud to the ceiling in the direction of the light, flecks of it had been shimmering gold and then the earbud itself turned blue. Mr Clark smelt it and looked rather taken aback.

'What's wrong, dear?' asked Mrs Clark.

'Apple!' said Mr Clark. Harry looked at Mrs Clark who's eyes bulged, he now thanked himself for not taking the drink offer, had he done it he would have been next to Liam, unable to report this. 'The bubbly was poisoned.'


	11. The Very Secret Diary

CHAPTER ELEVEN  
>The Very Secret Diary <p>

Eventually Mr and Mrs Clark allowed both Harry and Liam to go back to Hogwarts but by the time school was supposed to start for the next term, Liam was still cold and unconscious and was in a bed in the Hospital Wing again. The state of him gave everyone who saw him the impression that he was dead but as good of a doctor Thomas and Angela Clark were, they confirmed that he was still quite alive. Liam looked pale, so pale that it looked as though someone had painted his face white. Harry thought breathing was difficult for his cousin namely because it barely looked as though he were breathing if one were to look at him.

Harry spent most of his free time visiting the Hospital Wing and hoping that Liam would wake up, but the number of times he's sat in a chair beside the bed where he lay was becoming countless, and so that Harry had thought it was becoming useless to visit him. Mr and Mrs Clark stayed back refusing any help from either of the matrons as they were determined to cure Liam. The other reason was because they were afraid the matrons would meet a large, dire mistake that would possibly result to the Clarks losing a son and Harry losing the only cousin he really cared about.

Harry actually thought about not coming back to the Hospital Wing just to see a very white version of Liam in bed, but he knew it would be even more miserable to sit in the common room knowing that his cousin was on the brink of death, refusing to wake up. So he ended coming back everyday after classes in hope that he'd be seeing a roused Liam.

A month went by and still Liam had not awakened. Curious to know who had dosed the kiddies bubbly with poison, Harry decided to bring the matter to his aunt and uncle but found no luck for they, too, hadn't a clue. By this time, the news spread around the school and most of the students suspected Venus Sting, so much so that Harry began to believe it and found a valiant version of himself bubbly in the pit of his stomach, impelling to get out when Venus Sting decided to rock up at the school in search of Liam to kill him.

It was the least he could do.

Venus Sting was the possible culprit behind the poisoned drink. Who else would do it? He knew not even Draco Malfoy would stoop to such a level, neither would the McElroy twins nor that creepy Henry Nord. But he hated all four just the same because in the month the school took to find out about Liam, Harry found that Malfoy, Nord and the two McElroys became best friends, and, from what Harry heard, he knew them together would come up to a lot of mocking and nagging about things Harry barely cared about. And mocking they did for Liam being unconscious gave them a lot of material to build on, especially to dear Harry who had the urge to jinx them to the next generation whenever they did.

However, Harry was not the only visitor Liam had. Tessa - who was most concerned - and Callum came by but not as much as Harry. Ron came around, too, but Hermione barely moved. She was unusually quiet but did not think to go to the Hospital Wing when her two friends and the other two went. Harry got annoyed with her about it, he began to wonder what she had against Liam but she would not give him an answer whenever he asked, and he asked her a lot.

Despite the taunts he had been receiving from Draco, Nord, Dmitri and Adrian, Harry found the many comments about Liam not attending Snape and Wolverhampton's Potions lessons quite irritating. It wasn't Liam's fault that he got poisoned! Harry always thought whenever Snape and Wolverhampton would mention Liam's absence.

January was slowly turning into February and Liam was still suck in the Hospital Wing. Before this situation, Harry had thought Mr and Mrs Clark were possibly the greatest doctors he'd ever met - what with determining that Liam was poisoned by the bubbly with just a whiff off an earbud - but now that it had been two month since his cousin had been conscious, Harry had his doubts about just how good his aunt and uncle were and medical issues. Then again, it could just be the thought of losing Liam.

Harry found out when his aunt was born, Valentine's Day. It sent a weird atmosphere to the Clarks and Harry on that day because Liam was still unconscious and it didn't really go with Valentine's Day. March approached and Mr Clark's birthday was yet another day of visiting the comatose Liam. March was about to reach its very last day when Harry visited Liam next.

He walked into the Hospital Wing and Liam was blocked out of sight by his mother and father. Harry walked along the floor until he met the sight of his brown-haired cousin in bed. Liam was awake and well; his pale face was now filled with colour; the smile on his face was cheerful and bright.

'Liam!' said Harry loudly.

'Hello, Harry,' said Liam.

'So now's the time you decided to wake up, eh?' said Harry, his smiled brighter and bigger than Liam's.

'Hey, it's not my fault I got poisoned,' said Liam. 'How much of work have I missed.'

Harry's smile did not falter, in fact, it became bigger, 'A whole three months of work but I doubt it'll be very important,' he said.

'Not very important, eh? Well I think Snape and Wolverhampton will beg to differ,' said Liam.

'Oh, don't worry about those big, old slimy gits. The pair of them are all grumpy because I'm here,' said Mr Clark, but it had caused him to go red in the face from his wife's very sore nudge.

'Am I allowed out?' asked Liam.

Mr and Mrs Clark exchanged expressions with one brief look at each other. When they faced their son and nephew again, both Harry and Liam wished that Liam had not put the question out so soon.

'Oh, I know,' moaned Liam, '"you're weak and need a bit of recovery before walking about the school", it's usual doctor's words. But I feel really confident that I'm ready to be up and about, and plus, I _hate_ the Hospital Wing!'

'Liam, dear, you know it's only for your own good. Having a bit of recovery will have you up and about sooner or later. I promise,' said Mrs Clark.

_'But Mum!_ I don't like it here!' whined Liam.

Harry found this conversation oddly amusing.

'Oh, alright! We don't really like you being here, either. Those matrons can be nice when they want to but scary when it comes to their ways of "nursing",' said Mr Clark. 'But if you fall unconscious again, you're going to have to stay here to recover, do you hear me?'

'Alright, but at least I don't have to stay in here.'

Mr and Mrs Clark did not leave back home that evening, they stayed behind and intended to stay until they thought the time was fitting. They didn't want to have to come back to Hogwarts to tend to another one of Liam's anonymous injuries. Liam and Harry, on the other hand, had quite a nice bonding time together as the rest left them alone to have some. But one matter struck them as they were strolling towards the common room some few days after Liam's release from the Hospital Wing: Henry Nord's capture by Wigan.

What had he been doing skulking around the castle after hours when there was a monster petrifying students. If it did Colin in it could have easily done Henry as well. If he went wandering around Hogwarts before Wigan brought him in, who's to say he didn't continue his "walk" when he lost Slytherin points and walked out of the Vice Headmistresses office.

What about the Chamber of Secrets? Who opened it and why had it been a history lesson well forgotten? There were many professor who knew about it, yet none were willing to share any part of its legend. With Liam's absence there was a lot to talk about, but not enough to clog up their minds to an extent where they were completely oblivious. As they were walking to the common room they encountered something very odd. They were standing in a flooded corridor, close to the out-of-bounds bathroom that whinny ghost Moaning Myrtle haunts.

'What - water? There's water on the corridor?' said Liam.

'Again ...' said Harry.

'Again? What d'you mean again - oh, when I slipped,' said Liam. There was silence, and in that silence the two cousins looked at each other. Then they heard wailing and their attention was drawn towards the out-of-bounds sign hanging askew on the ajar bathroom door; which unfortunately made Moaning Myrtle's wailing clearer than they wanted it to be.

Harry heard Liam sigh and say, '_Moaning_ Myrtle. That's and understatement of her name ... they should call her Constantly Moaning Myrtle!'

Harry could help but smile as he thought about how true Liam's statement was. If you were to insult Moaning Myrtle it would be like setting off a bomb of thousands of semi-translucent tears. His grin was wiped off after the wailing got louder, and Harry and Liam splashed through the ankle-high water.

Harry turned to look at Liam, he had a very sour expression, one Harry would find on a grumpy old man experiencing his next door neighbour's daughter's terrible signing, and he had good reason for it. Myrtle was weeping, harder than any ghost Harry and Liam had ever seen cry - if there were any such thing other than Myrtle. The walls and floor were soaking wet, which was the possible explanation of the extinguished candles.

'What's wrong, Myrtle?' asked Harry.

'Go away!' blubbered Myrtle. 'Throwing things at ghosts is not a game!'

'Myrtle, it's us, Harry and Liam,' said Harry. 'And what d'you mean by throwing things at ghosts?'

'_It's not fair_!' yelled Myrtle. 'I was minding my own business! And someone thinks it's such a great idea to throw a book at me! Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I don't have feelings.'

'Wait, someone threw a book at you,' said Liam, who, because of his bitter reaction to Myrtle's wailing, was unable to comprehend the squat ghost's story. 'Why're you making such a big deal about books, it's not as if it hurt you.'

'Don't mind him, Myrtle,' said Harry before Myrtle would break out into loud wails again. 'WHo through the book at you?'

'_I_ don't know. I was thinking about death and it came right through my head,' and Myrtle was back on the verge of her booming weeps when she said, 'it washed up over there.' With one point at a drowning book, Myrtle dived into a stall and hid herself.

Like everything else, the book Myrtle pointed at was all wet and sodden. It lay in a corner on the floor occasionally being hit by water. Harry went to go pick it up but stopped abruptly.

'Why'd you stop?' asked Liam.

'What are the possibilities that it might be dangerous?' asked Harry.

'Dangerous! You're bloody well looking for danger if we don't get out of here soon. The next time Myrtle breaks into tears, I don't think I'll have functioning ears to hear them,' said Liam.

'I can hear you,' said Myrtle.

'I wasn't trying to be discreet,' said Liam to a teary-looking Myrtle who had her head peering over the stall door. Liam then looked back at Harry. 'Well go on, Harry, pick it up. It's only a book, Hermione and Tessa'll pick it up in less than a second.'

'Well I'm not Hermione, nor am I Tessa.'

'Just pick it up!'

Harry bent down and picked up the book from the floor. He made his way back to Liam and opened it, noticing immediately that it had been a diary. There was a feint date in the corner telling them that it belonged to a person fifty years ago. The diary belonged to someone named T.M Riddle.

'T.M Riddle? Who d'you suppose that is?' asked Harry.

'I dunno, never heard of him before,' said Liam.

Harry and Liam had a moment just staring at the name "T.M Riddle". Then Harry carefully pulled apart the wet pages and found that there had been no trace of it being an actual dairy. No splotches or patches or doodles, just plain old blank pages that had belonged to T.M Riddle for fifty years.

'Useless!' said Liam. 'There's not a hint that somebody actually owned this. I wonder why someone would to flush it out, it seems like a perfectly good diary. I bet this would be the perfect gift for Hermione, then she can write all about how she _hates_ me. Throw it off, Harry, if we run fast enough we would have just made it far enough to not hear Myrtle's crying.'

Liam turned away from Harry and made his way out the door, Harry followed after only when he pocketed the diary. Harry managed to catch up to Liam who began to rant on about the measure he would go through just to stop Myrtle from crying, and some of them included having to go through a forest of spiders.

'You're really going to go through a forest of spiders just to stop her from crying?' asked Harry.

'If that's what it takes,' said Liam. 'And I'm dead serious about that.'

Harry thought that if they were to encounter spiders throughout their remaining years at Hogwarts, school would be very interesting. Both Liam and Ron hated spiders whether small or big. It was one of the things Harry learnt about his cousin through their bounding times. But, yet again, their bonding time was seized by a name, Liam's name.

'You know I only stayed for Liam's sake. Angie's in bed dreading what it would be like if Sting _did_ get to him,' said the voice that was unmistakably Mr Clark's.

'Time wages, Thomas, we can't fight it,' said another they knew to be Wigan's. 'Scarlet and I pledged that we would keep him safe, there's are no boundaries around it.'

'Time waged too far down James and Lily's path, they're gone, now! Now, I'm sorry, but I cannot lose another one of my loved ones.'

'Mark my words, Tom, he'll be all right,' said Wigan. 'Now, if you will excuse me, I have to tend to some business. Business I hope that good for nothing Gilderoy Lockhart hasn't already started.'

Harry seemed the least bit excited about Valentines Day, mainly because Lockhart was holding a party down in the Great Hall and Harry was sure he'd somehow end up being the centre of attention and Lockhart's most treasured guest of honour. Instead, he decided to search the diary he and Liam found in Myrtle's bathroom. He opened the book, blank and all, and brought out a bottle of ink. He dipped his quill into the ink and was ready to write when a drop fell to the blank page. Harry watched as the small blotch of ink disappeared ...

A/N: I would write more but it was just erased. But I think you all know the outcome to Harry's visit in the diary fifty years ago?


	12. Why Can't It Be Follow the Butterflies

CHAPTER TWELVE

Why Can't It Be Follow The Butterflies

Harry had told Ron, Liam and Callum all about Hagrid being the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago and they decided that it may be time they had a little chat with him about it. So after school that night, they collected Harry's Cloak and Liam's Ring – which they had soon displayed to each other – and set off to Hagrid's hut, which was exactly placed where Liam and Callum last remember seeing Dreagon's, but they were needed by McGonagall and McDonald for some unknown reason.

So they turned into a corridor and walk toward them, pretending to not know that the Vice Headmistresses needed them. When McGonagall and McDonald stopped them in their tracks they brought them to the Hospital Wing with concerned expressions that somehow they managed to muster differently. McGonagall's looked as usual as it always did, however McDonald was a completely different story. Her concerned expression resembled more of a frightened owl, considering her hawkish and mousy face.

'Come on, quickly!' said McDonald. 'What you're about to see may be quite shocking.'

They followed after them, curious of what might be so shocking as to have McDonald and McGonagall frightened. They rounded a Hospital bed, two were occupied by the two the four of them didn't quite think were going to be in this form. Hermione and Tessa were petrified, eyes wide and staring.

'We found them outside the library. Miss Williams was by a trophy case when we found her, and Miss Granger had this mirror with her. Do you know what it would mean?' asked McGonagall.

The four of them shook their heads apologetically. Hermione and Tessa were petrified! They needed to talk to Hagrid about this more than ever now. If he was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago then he must have opened it now, and his monster would be attacking students around the school. But the more they wanted to go confront him, the more difficult they found leaving Hermione and Tessa side after seeing them like this.

'Right, we'll leave you here,' said McGonagall. 'Don't stay out too long, we don't want Gryffindor losing points.'

And the two professors left the Hospital Wing, which fell silent once the door was closed behind them.

Once they got to the door they knocked, and a gruff voice answer from the inside; they could faintly hair a crackling fire.

'How's there?' commanded the gruff voice and Liam, Ron, Callum and Harry answered in choir of voices, 'It's us!'

There was a loud ruffling to the door and Fang, Hagrid enormous boarhound, began to bark loudly. The door swung opened revealing a large, round man with blonde hair and a bushy moustache. Radagast Dreagon looked startled sporting the crossbow. Harry took off his cloak and revealed him and Ron whilst Liam took off his ring and revealed him and Callum.

'Blimmin' bourhounds! What'dya think yer doin' snoopin' 'round after dark?' said Dreagon. His eyes were evidently glued to Liam and Callum, obviously because he knew nothing about Ron and that Harry Potter didn't know who he was.

'Dreagon, who's a' da door?' asked another gruff voice from somewhere in the hut. One Harry and Ron knew belonged to Hagrid.

'Yeh'll never believe this now, Hagrid! It's yeh boy Harry Potter, and he brough' a redhead friend with him. Liam's here, too, with his friend Callum,' yelled Dreagon over his shoulder.

'Blimey, Harry,' said Hagrid as he walked along the length of the hut to the front door. He looked concerned. 'What'dya doin' commin' out a' dark? Dontcha know abou' the rules? Dumbledore and Glumberry'll have yeh in if they knew you and yeh buddies came ter us after dark. Not ter mention that it may take a pull on us.'

'Sorry, Hagrid, but we came to ask a serious question,' responded Harry hastily. 'Can we come in?'

'Sure! Sure!' said the two large men.

Harry and Ron lead in with Liam and Callum following after. Dreagon gestured seat which the four boys took with ease. Hagrid brought out a large pot and said, 'Tea?'

'No thanks,' said the boys.

'Suit yehself,' grumbled Hagrid.

Hagrid pour tea into two barrel-sized mugs and gave the other one to Dreagon. He round a seat of his own and took one and looked at Liam and Callum.

'Now I know these two and I know William Clark isn't a very hard name ter forget, but I don' seem ter know ya jus' as much as I know Harry and Ron,' said Hagrid. 'Now don' get me wrong. Dreagon's talked a lot abou' yeh, jus' not enough ter know yeh well. So jus' so we're clear, my name's Rubeus Hagrid.'

And he let out one enormous hand to whoever decided to shake in front of Liam and Callum. Callum shook first and Liam shook after, trying to be polite but discreetly perturbed by the fact that the person shaking hands with them may have set Hermione and Tessa to the path of patronisation.

'So, what'd'ya c'mere fir? Yeh didn' get in ter anythin' naughty, have yeh?' asked Hagrid with such a jolly smile that it only laid out an odd feeling.

'Erm … no Hagrid, we – err – we –' Harry was jotting looks between his friends and his cousin. All were giving him looks that were urging him to say what he needed to say to Hagrid about the Chamber of Secrets. 'Well. You see, Hagrid – we –'

'We came to talk to you about the Chamber of Secrets!' Liam finally put in there to complete Harry's sentence. The colour in Hagrid's face was drained to such a pale colour that it didn't seem real enough to be the friendly giant. He looked more like a mere cardboard cut-out of him. 'We heard that you opened it fifty years ago and we wanted to know whether it was true or not.'

'WHAT! Yeh don' suppose I did any o' the attacks goin' on about in Hogwarts, do yeh?' howled Hagrid. Harry, Callum, Ron and Liam exchanged looks, and then looked back at Hagrid. 'I was framed, I was! I wouldn' do any of tha', Harry, I swear! Yeh know me! And in any fact, why's it so importan' now?'

'Hermione, Tessa and some other girl were found petrified,' said Ron. 'So you can forgive us for coming in so unexpectedly.'

'What! Tess is petrified!' roared Dreagon. He slammed his barrel of a mug down on their large table and bolted from the chair to his feet. His eyebrows narrowed, looking at Hagrid. 'Yeh don' suppose someone wants yeh framed again, Rubeus?'

'Hang on, Tess is petrified and you want to know whether he's being framed again! Were you even there when it was opened?' asked Callum.

''Course I was! How'd yeh think we met?' asked Dreagon, seating himself back on his chair. 'Rubeus and I were in the same year, 'course he got himself expelled after the third year. I did the same in the fourth year. We became friends because we were the only ones that were similar.'

'Similar how, exactly?' asked Liam.

'Err – well, yeh know. We're abnormally large, if yeh haven' noticed, an' were have the same accent an' all. We were the only ones who understood each other. And we were appointed Gamekeepers of the grounds ever since,' said Dreagon. 'I can guarantee yeh now, Rubeus wouldn' be caught messin' around with any of this time of stuff. He wouldn' even know where to look to find that chamber – if it even exists. And I know fir a fact that Hagrid wouldn' do a single thing without tellin' –'

A knock game from the door, loud and rushed. The four boys looked at each. Hagrid got out the crossbow again and clutched it firmly in his hand as he and Dreagon looked towards the door.

'We're not expectin' anyone tonigh', who d'yeh suppose that is, Radi?' asked Hagrid.

'Dunno,' said Dreagon in a hushed tone. 'Yeh boys better slip tha' ring on of yours … and whatever else yeh came here with.'

They did so. Liam slipped on his ring and clapped his hands around Ron and Callum's shoulders whilst Harry slipped on his cloak, becoming invisible to the scene. Dreagon and Hagrid walked towards the door with the crossbow in hand in case it was some unsavoury character coming to give the castle's Gamekeepers a little visit. They opened the door and sighed, placing the crossbow in a corner nearby.

Dumbledore and Glumberry entered, looking as calm as ever but with a strange hint that something was wrong – other than the Chamber's attacks. Two other strangers followed shortly after them. One was quite old and the other adequately young, but disastrously round and plump.

The one that seemed older wore a pinstriped suit, a scarlet tie, a long, black coat and pointed purpled boots. He had rumpled grey hair and bore an anxious expression. Under his arm he carried a lime-green bowler hat. The other, who was round, barely fit into the suit he wore. His tie lay shaped over his large chest, just making an appearance from where the four boys stood. His hair was streaked with grey strands that were swimming about in a faded brown mass. His expression was not one they would easily match to his body shape. He looked as though his face was framed by dark shadows.

'That's the Minister and Prime Minister of Magic! Cornelius Fudge and Eric Cornel,' said Ron.

'Bad business, Hagrid,' said Cornelius Fudge.

'Very bad business, indeed,' said Eric Cornel. 'Had to come. Four attacks on Muggle-borns and one Pureblood, which seemed to be a mistake from what Fredrick and Albus imply. Things have gone too far. The Ministry's got to act. You do understand what reputation this pulls on us?'

'Now, wait here! Yeh can' actually be thinkin' tha' Hagrid would pull off such a thing! He didn' then and he didn' do it now! End o' story!' boomed Dreagon, clipping a hand to Hagrid's one shoulder.

'Now, Dreagon –'

'I never! You know I never, Headmasters, you know it –'

'I want it fully understood that Hagrid has my full confidence,' said Dumbledore. 'He has both out full confidence.'

'Look, Albus,' said Cornel, 'Hagrid's record's against him. If we stop the main man then we stop the attacks. And right now we know that Hagrid opened it fifty years ago –'

'But you have no proof leading to him being the culprit then and you continue to have none even now,' said Glumberry. 'And, in any fact, it will do no good taking Hagrid, not even in the slightest.'

'Look at it from our perspective,' said Fudge, twiddling with his bowler hat. 'We're under a lot of pressure. Got to be seen to be doing something. If it turns out that it wasn't Hagrid after all, he'll be back without any harm done. But it has to be done, we have to take him –'

'Take him?' asked Dreagon questioningly. 'Surely not Azkaban! Yeh got ter be pullin' my leg, now! Yeh not gonna send him to Azkaban if it were my mission to let him!'

'Fine, Mr Dreagon, then we will have to take you in, too. Obviously this seems to be a result to some sort of conspiracy. Of course we have no proof pinning you to the crime but we have to take everything into account to end this. You do understand, don't you –?'

There was another rap at the door.

When Mr Lucius Malfoy walked in accompanied by Mr Luca McElroy, Harry let out a gasp and Callum had to force his hand against Liam's mouth to prevent him from doing the same. Both were in long black travelling cloaks and bearing cold and contented smiles on their faces. Fang began to growl.

'Good. We have the Minister and the Prime Minister here already, how delightful,' said Lucius Malfoy.

'What're you two doin' here?' Hagrid asked furiously. 'Get outta my house!'

'Yeah! Get out!' added Dreagon.

'Believe me, we take absolutely no pleasure being inside your – you call this a house? Huh! No. We simply called at the school, and was told the Headmasters were here,' said Mr Malfoy.

'May we ask what is it that you want with us?' asked Dumbledore.

'Well,' began Mr McElroy, 'the other governors and I have decided it's time for you two to step aside. This is an order of suspension – you will find all twelve signatures on it. We're afraid we feel you've rather lost your touch. Well, what, with all these attacks, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts. I can only imagine what an _awful_ loss that would be to the school.'

'Yeh can' take Professor Dumbledore and Professor Glumberry away. Take them away, an' the Muggle-borns won' stand a chance! You mark my words, there'll be killin's next!' said Hagrid.

'Yeh! This is outrageous! Yeh can' have them suspended, the school needs them!' added Dreagon.

'You think so?' remarked Lucius coldly.

'Why, you little –' Dreagon shuffled roughly towards Lucius Malfoy before Dumbledore and Glumberry pulled him back to Hagrid. His face was flushed red and sporting an angered expression that neither Liam nor Callum had ever seen in the year they had known him for.

'Calm yourself, Dreagon. If the governors desire our removal, we will, of course, _step aside_. However, you will find that we will only _truly _leave when there are none who are loyal to us.' For a moment, Dumbledore and Glumberry looked around the room and Harry and Liam swore they had seen them both wink at them. 'You'll always find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.' And they looked back.

Luca McElroy looked at the Headmasters when they had winked. His face screwed up and looked in the direction were the boys were. He search that particular area until he was absolutely certain that there had been no one there.

'Admirable sentiments,' said McElroy. 'Now, I understand that Hagrid and Dreagon are being apprehended – we weren't so far back to have heard that. Shall we, Minister, Prime Minister?'

'Come on, Hagrid … you too, Dreagon,' said Fudge. Fang began to bark as Hagrid and Dreagon reluctantly walked into way of the door. Dumbledore and Glumberry followed after.

Hagrid had then stopped and began to look around the hut and said, '_Ahem! _If, uh, if anybody was lookin' fir some _stuff_, then all they'd have ter do would be to follow the _spiders_. Yup! That would lead them right! That's all I have to say. Oh, and someone'll need to feed Fang while we're away.'

Fang began to whine as Dreagon's enormous hand patted his head. And then he, Hagrid, Dumbledore and Glumberry were gone, followed by the Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, Eric Cornel, the Prime Minister of Magic, and Lucius Malfoy and Luca McElroy. The door was closed behind them and Fang began to scratch away at the door.

Harry, Liam, Ron and Callum were back near Hagrid and Dreagon's hut. Fang's silhouette was seen through one of its windows. The Ford Anglia opened its doors, and with no sluggishness, they all flooded out. The car sped away back into the forest, back in there where they nearly met their doom.

'Follow the spiders? _FOLLOW THE SPIDERS! _If I ever get my hands on either Dreagon or Hagrid, I'll kill them both. Sure! Let's all follow the bloody spiders and see if that won't end us up as their next dinner!' said Liam.

'Why can't it have been "follow the butterflies"?' said Ron. 'I mean, what was the point of sending us in there?'

Harry, Liam, Callum and Ron had just experienced one thing they had not wanted to experience in their lives ever again. They followed the spiders' trail towards their hollow, where they had met Aragog, Hagrid's pet whom they had supposed killed that Muggle-born fifty years ago. After learning that the monster was not Aragog and was in fact something the spiders all feared and "did not speak of", they were targeted for dinner. Luckily, the Ford Anglia came to rescue, or they wouldn't have made it out of the forest alive.

'We know one thing. Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. He was innocent.

'All right! Whatever! Can we please get back to the castle, like, _now, _before those spiders find their way to us?' said Callum.

'Yes! Let's go –' Liam was about to walk away, but then he heard ruffling in the forest. Sceptically, he looked towards it. If there was anything there, it was engulfed by unsatisfying darkness and leaves. He looked back at his cousin and friends, who were all looking at him with an odd expression. '_What? _I heard something, is that a crime.'

'Not a crime. More of a well-spotted effort,' said a voice. It wasn't anyone near their age because his voice was deeper, yet strangely smoother. Callum, Ron and Harry froze, their eyes bulging at the figure behind Liam. Liam didn't dear turn around, yet he was wondering why the person hadn't attacked him yet.

'Please don't tell me that's who I think it is?' said Liam slowly.

'Run!' said Harry.

And they all sped away, Liam towards the door to Hagrid and Dreagon's hut. He opened it setting Fang on the figure that was Venus Sting. Moments later, there was a swishing sound and an uncanny thump with the last whines of a dog. Fang was dead! He killed Fang! Liam ran after Harry, Ron and Callum towards the castle, sure that Venus Sting was following after them.

They came to one area that was pillared and roofed where they had stopped and looked behind them in any sign that Sting was behind them. When they checked he was nowhere to be seen. Panting, they all looked at each other, grinning at their slick escape from an inmate that supposedly broke out of a prison that was presumably impregnable.

'Are you okay?' Harry asked Liam, who was leaning against the wall, drained of colour and swallowing hard.

'I am now.'

'I wouldn't be too sure about that,' said the same voice. Before they could run, Sting appeared in front of them, stopping them from going anywhere. 'Don't run, please! I'm only a man, you know. It's really ridiculous how people think that I'm out of Kazaban just to kill you, Liam.'

'Well, if that's not what you're here to do, then what do you want with me?' asked Liam.

'To clear things up with you,' said Sting. 'Although, I can only do it if you cooperate and you listen. Both of you, even you, Harry.'

'And why should we trust you?' snapped Ron.

Sting stepped away from them, standing a few feet in front of them. He took out his wand making the four boys cringe. He hesitated for a moment and the threw it to the ground where it rolled to the middle. He then held his hands above his head. However many years Sting had been in Kazaban for, they weren't good years. His hair was long and blonde, streaking with filth. His clothes and faces was patched with dirt and grime, his fingers were pencil-thin and he looked rather skinny for a man that killed a load of people back then.

'Trust me _now_?' asked Sting.

'What did you do to Fang?' questioned Liam.

'Stupefied. He was irking me. Look, Liam, I only came to tell you something … clear things up –'

_'No! _Liam is part of the only family that cares about me! You're not going to do anything to him –'

'I don't _want _to do anything to him! I only want to talk!'

'What do you want to talk to me about?' asked Liam. He seemed quite stunned by the fact that the criminal everyone was hiding him away from just wanted to _talk. _'You were hunting me for so long … sending me death threats … you broke out of jail just to k–'

'To tell you that I am you godfather!'

Liam found himself staring at the criminal as though he had just made the most bizarre comment ever. His mouth was slightly opened, ready to make a remark if ever it came to his head. His eyes squinting, and mind wondering whether he had heard that correctly. Ron and Callum kept looking from Liam to Sting as though they were both working together, and Harry, Harry broke into a trail of thought that had him wondering why Sting was then put in jail.

'You can't be good, you're one of _his _men. Valindor's men,' said Liam. 'You have the mark on your arm –' Liam pulled the sleeve off his arm and saw it, stepping back as he did. The Dark Mark was on him. 'See! Proof!'

'Liam!' yelled a voice from far. As soon as Wigan came into sight his wand bolted into hand and was pointed right at Sting's chest. Mr and Mrs Clark followed after him, holding their wands up too. Sting did not go for his wand, he instead held his hands high above his head. 'You found him!'

'I only want to tell him the truth … and you may as well listen, too, Pitch, Silverpaw,' said Sting.

Wigan and Mr Clark looked uncomfortable, but they let their hand done.

'Wigan … Uncle Tom –!'

'I want to hear this,' said Wigan. 'I want to hear what he has to say.'

'Me too.'

'Thank you.' Sting turned back to Liam. 'I am you godfather … both you and Harry –'

'Is it true?' questioned Harry. Although he was looking at Sting, the question was posed to Mr Clark, who had looked a bit mortified. He nodded, slightly, and Liam and Harry shook their heads in disbelief.

'Both James and I made that call. It was him and – someone just as bad as him,' said Mr Clark.

'I only came to tell them the truth. Yes, Liam, I do have the Dark Mark but only because I was a double agent. I worked for a group fighting against the Dark Lords Voldemort and Valindor before they took a very big action that had a pull on me. I didn't cast the spell that killed a lot of people but I can't say that it wasn't my wand. Someone stole it from me and gave it back shortly after they had done so. The Ministry doesn't have any visual proof pinning me to any of those deaths, they just know that my wand was used to do them.'

'Wait, Voldemort and Valindor were together once before?' asked Harry.

'Yes, which is why the world was split. To separate them … but it also separated family and friends,' said Sting.

'So you didn't do any of those?' asked Mr Clark. Sting shook his head. 'Then you better get out of here! Wigan called the Ministry once we knew Junior was missing. We thought that you might have gotten him. They'll be here shortly. GO NOW!'


	13. The Chamber of Secrets

**_A/N: Hey, I haven't edited this. There will be occasional errors. Mind them I had a very busy week. I tried not to make as much mistakes but I probably failed at that._**

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Chamber of Secrets

In the light of everything that had been going on, Professor McGonagall and Professor McDonald, in the absence of Dumbledore and Glumberry, thought that it would be best if they kept the examinations up. When they had expressed the news to all the students they met a loud roar of moans from each and every house. However, this news did not seem, in the slightest way, important to Liam, Harry, Callum and Ron. The four of them sat silently in their seats as this announcement was said, probably oblivious to the fact that they still needed to study. They were all thinking about Hermione and Tessa and the fact that Hagrid was in Azkaban for doing something he didn't even do.

They were also upset about the fact that Fudge and Cornel locked up Dreagon because they _assumed _he had been working with Hagrid, his fellow friend. The poor big old bloke wouldn't even know where to start if he were to be part of it. Handling Slytherin's monster and burden of the Chamber of Secrets was probably a lot of work. They wouldn't know, they hadn't once been a physco who homed a school in a hidden chamber before.

Though, that wasn't the only thing that caught their attentions. Ginny Weasley had been acting rather strangely. For one she looked abnormally pale and she spent half her time avoiding anybody she came across. Harry and Liam noticed that especially, for she would actually make eye contact with them and then scurry off. She seemed most afraid of them, for reasons unknown. Harry surpassed that merely because he knew she was always shy, especially whenever she was around him.

However, her behaviour wasn't the only one Harry found rather strange. Liam had been quite distant ever since that night when they found out that Hagrid never really did open the Chamber of Secrets, and when they bumped into Venus Sting. He would walk with him, Ron and Callum, but wouldn't even squeak, and he remained silent for the rest of the days unless his parents decided that they wanted to see how he had Harry were doing.

Harry had brought it up to Uncle Tom, who was the best option to tell between him and Aunt Angela. Uncle Tom had told Harry not to worry about Liam and that whatever's gotten him in a state will soon go away, although Harry so no difference. So he decided not to listen to his uncle and rather do what he was supposed to do the moment he realised Liam's odd behaviour, and that was talk to him. Harry walked into that common room that day, three days preceding the time when they found out that Hagrid was innocent, finding Liam on one of the couches, lying in a sad atmosphere.

'Liam?' called Harry as he sat down in a comfy armchair himself. 'Are you okay?'

'Why wouldn't I be?' Liam didn't even look at Harry, the thought of still having to do wizarding examinations must have been clogging up his mind as well, alongside whatever other thing he might be thinking about.

'Well you just seem a little down,' said Harry. He was hoping to get an answer out of him.

There was a silence. Liam was staring at the ceiling, just thinking and Harry was staring at his cousin. Maybe it really was a good idea to leave Liam to his own business, have him deal with whatever he was dealing it by himself. With that thought in his mind, Harry sighed, stood and was about to be off.

'I know why you came to me,' said Liam. Harry froze. 'I know why you asked me if I was all right. I honestly am. Just not exactly in the way you would like me to be.'

Harry turned around and sat back at his seat. 'Look, I know knowing Venus Sting actually broke out of Kazaban or whatever it's called just to tell you that he was your godfather may have seemed a little bit odd –'

'He's your godfather, too, if you haven't forgotten.'

'Yeah, but he wasn't targeting me.'

Liam looked at Harry. 'I'm not upset because he broke out of jail just to tell me something rather than to kill me … I'm upset that everybody else thinks he's _still _trying to kill me. He was _forced _into getting something that could ruin his life for the rest of his life. That mark of theirs, that marks them the Dark Lords' subjects, what do you think the Ministry would do to him if they found it on his arm?'

'Suppose they already did. I reckon that's why they locked him up, he had the Dark Lords' mark on him. The only question is how did he get out of a seemingly inescapable prison?' asked Harry.

'I dunno. He's got to have a good explanation, though, I don't want him in jail again,' said Liam. And then he smiled and laughed. Harry sat in his seat, stunned that Liam was laughing about this. 'A couple of weeks ago I would have been happy to see Sting dead, now I can't even imagine him being locked up. And I don't even know why, he hasn't done anything yet to prove that he actually is innocent … I guess I feel like I can _trust _him. I don't know why or how just yet, but I know that he's innocent.'

'Well, now that we've got that clear we should probably catch up with Callum and Ron at the Great Hall. We've missed most of dinner. Doubt they'd still have some roast on the table … if we're lucky we can get some pudding before it's all finished,' said Harry, and he stood once more. He was hoping that this little talk snapped Liam back, that he would actually stand and follow after him. He was happy to know that he actually did. Liam got up and was the first at the portrait hole.

As they walked into the Great Hall, a young girl pushed past them in such a hurry that it nearly knocked them over. They weren't able to figure out who the girl was but it seemed as though she was a first-year Gryffindor. Harry and Liam were only able to see as much as the girl's Gryffindor robes billowing behind her as she disappeared into the corridor. Harry and Liam just continued to walk until they found Ron and Callum.

'About time,' said Ron, 'it got a little lonely. We've run out of things to talk about … and now that Hermione and Tessa are petrified …'

'They'll get better. Madam Pomfrey and that other matron – Madam Madison, was it … well whatever here name is, the matrons are working on something to help them,' said Harry.

'Yeah, they're using those Mandrake things from that one Herbology lesson to cure it,' said Liam. 'Heard mum talking about once, said it's nearly done, I think. Dad's trying to get past this situation and is trying to keep us away from whatever the heck's going on.' He and Harry sat down at the table, managing to dish out a bowl-full of dessert each.

'This so-called monster has gone for anyone after Tessa, Hermione and that other girl,' said Callum, his mouth full of treacle tart.

'Wonder what the professors are doing about this, now that Dumbledore and Glumberry are gone, I guess it leaves McDonald and McGonagall in charge,' said Liam. He ate a spoon-full of pudding and looked up to the staff table. His brows narrowed; Wigan had bent down and was whispering in McGonagall and McDonald's ear. The two second-in-commands looked directly at Lockhart, Sunderland and Flitwick, nodded and they all stood and left. 'What?'

Callum, Ron and Harry then, too, watched as the six professor took a slow walk out of the Great Hall. All four of them frowned. What was going on?

'What d'you suppose that's all about?' asked Ron.

'I'm not sure,' said Harry. 'But whatever it is, it's probably related to the exams.'

And they continued to eat. They all were sure to fill their mouths before continuing their conversation, but before even a single word could some out of either of their mouths, the doors to the Great Hall burst open and two men walked in. The insides of Harry and Liam's stomachs bubbled with anger as they saw who it had been, though, for it was the two highest people in the Ministry. Students spun around in their seats in awe as they watched both the Minister and the Prime Minister of Magic trot across the Great Hall towards the staff table.

Behind them fumbled Filch and Grey, the two caretakers who would both rather see them chained up against the walls of the dungeons than taking a walk about the school corridors. They seemed rather rushed as Eric Cornel and Cornelius Fudge strolled ahead of them. Snape and Wolverhampton stood at their arrival.

'To what pleasure do we owe your presence, Minister, Prime Minister?' asked Wolverhampton, his hands folded behind him.

'We would like to speak to the ones in charge, Wilber, which I do believe is Minerva McGonagall and Elaine McDonald,' said Prime Minister Cornel, who wore a bowtie that just managed to fit the length of his neck.

'Elaine and Minerva are currently out, we're afraid, but I assure you whatever you have to say will get to them if you tell us what the matter is,' said Snape.

'Very well … Fudge, care to do the honours,' said Cornel.

'One of the Hogwarts staff members has proven to us of sighting of Venus Sting on your school grounds. As I do recall her name being Bathsheba Babbling, your Ancient Runes professor, am I not mistaken?' Fudge's eyes trailed across the staff table where he came in contact with a skinny lady who had long black hair. She grinned at Fudge and then returned to eating what remained of her dessert.

The students behind Cornel and Fudge broke into a chorus of frightened murmurs. The talk about Venus Sting being sighted on Hogwarts campus would not go unnoticed. Just knowing how much the students feared Venus Sting being in their presence made Liam a lot more angrier, and it made Harry feel the same way. Sooner or later, as Liam was distracted by the anger inside him, students looked at him in curiosity, just to see his reaction to the news. Liam was biting back the urge to yell at them all, to tell them that Sting was innocent.

'We have taken action but would hate it if we hadn't told someone, preferably those in charge, that we were sending Aurors out onto your school ground in order to capture him,' said Fudge. 'We understand that that could be quite an inconvenience.'

'I also really suggest that Mr Clark goes into hiding,' said Cornel, turning to the crowd and facing the Gryffindor table, but never really finding Liam amongst all the students. He then turned back. 'No, it would be rather tragic if all the _Daily Prophet _can talk about is the terrible casualty Hogwarts had this term. Terrible, too.'

'Well, we must be off. We must seek council with the Head of the Auror office. See if they have anything on Sting yet. They're using means of the Encredit Charm to grab Intel on the mission. In all hope I do hope we eventually find him, for not only Liam's sake, but for us all. You know how killers are, they don't only stop after one.'

Fudge and Cornel then turned after bidding Snape and Wolverhampton goodbye, and ambled out towards the double-oak doors. Tired Filch and Grey followed after them, pulling up their robes so that they could lung their way to them. It was incredible to see a man like Cornel walking away at such a fast rate, not in the state he was in. It had Harry wondering how Cornel got the role of the Prime Minister if all it ever looked like he did was eat silently in the comforts of his fire-lit office. He looked at Liam, wondering whether he'd been thinking the same thing, then it dawned: Venus Sting was being hunted down by hordes of Aurors on the Hogwarts grounds with no means of escape. He only hoped that getting away from Aurors was as easy as sneaking out of jail.

Harry watched as his cousin stood. Everyone, after the sudden silence they had as Cornel and Fudge left, stared at him. Liam looked around. He could see Malfoy and the McElroys snickering amongst themselves, but he found no Nord. In fact, Nord seemed like a distant memory, with all that was going on, he seemed to have forgotten the rude Slytherin boy who could very well have been mistaken for the youngest oldest man on earth. Nord was then wiped from his thoughts as Venus's innocent face behind bars appeared in mind. He had to do something to stop this!

And he suddenly knew what … With one last glance at his cousin, Liam broke into a run towards the double-oak doors. Harry, Ron and Callum stood and followed after, eventually catching up to Liam as he put so much effort in climbing the stairs at the rate he went.

'Liam, what are you doing?' yelled Harry from behind him.

'If we don't help, Venus will be locked up again!' said Liam. 'I don't want that to happen!'

'Where are we going?' asked Callum.

'To my parents!'

'And how do you know where they are?' asked Ron.

'They're doctors!' and the next thing they knew, they were bursting through the doors of the Hospital Wing. Both the matrons and Mr and Mrs Clark were in the area, possibly checking up on the frozen patients. Hermione and Tessa were in two consecutive beds, a small wooden table being the only thing that separated the two. All four of them looked at the four boys that just arrived, flustered and tired from the storming race up the stairs.

'Dad, we've got a little bit of a situation,' huffed Liam. Mr Clark, after exchanging looks with his wife, made his way to his son. Liam then looked around at the two matrons and his mother, and whispered, 'Venus is in trouble. He's being hunted by Aurors!'

'You know what an Auror is?' asked Mr Clark, stunned.

'No, but whatever it is, it can't be good, especially not for Venus!' said Liam. 'We've got to do something! We can't just let him be caught like that!'

'Hey, ok, relax! He's my friend, and if anybody knew Venus as much as I did, I'd rather say the Aurors will have a pretty tough time catching him,' said Mr Clark. 'If it makes you feel any better, I'll go look for him, keep him by my side.'

'Take me with you – take _us _with you,' said Liam.

Mr Clark stood in front of him with an opened mouth and a shocked expression. He looked at the four twelve-year-old boys and then fixed his eyes on Liam. 'Are you mad? If you think I'm going to take you on such a dangerous thing like this, you've got another thing coming.'

'Dad, I'm tougher than you think.' He wasn't going to give his father much of a choice. It was either he took them with him, or he wasn't going to do anything and Liam would go on his own. Somehow, Mr Clark was fully aware of that. He sighed, turned and started heading back to Mrs Clark, who had been by Hermione and Tessa's bedsides. By that time the two matrons left. Whilst the two parents had a short chat, Harry's eyes trailed to the bedside table separating the two hospital beds. There was a crumpled up piece of parchment laying there.

'What's that?' asked Harry, brows puckered and finger pointing at the crumpled up pieces of paper. He began to make his way to his aunt and uncle, the other three following after him. Harry squeezed his way through his aunt and uncle and seized the crumpled up piece of parchment.

'Oh that,' said Mrs Clark. 'That's probably nothing. It was in Hermione's hand when she was petrified. It wasn't easy getting that out in one piece. She must have wanted to keep it a secret if she was clutching onto it so much. I decided not to read it.'

Harry didn't take his aunt's theory into account; he unrumpled the piece of parchment in front of her.

'Well don't you now do it!' said his aunt. Harry wasn't listening, his eyes were fixated on what seemed to be a page torn out of quite an old library book. They watched Harry as his eyes sped across the page.

_Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it._

'What does it say?' asked Ron.

'Pipes,' answered Harry.

'Pipes? I'm pretty sure it doesn't take _that _long to read the word "pipes", Harry,' said Liam.

'No, that's how it's been moving around! The pipes! _Spiders flee before it … _that's what Aragog told us the night we went out to see him, that the spiders did not talk about because they would never dream of going anywhere near it! That's why there was a long line of spiders leading to the forest after someone was petrified, because they didn't want to be caught insight of it!'

'Right, and are you going to tell us what this "it" is, or are you going to continued rambling on as though we actually know what you're talking about?' said Liam.

'The monster Salazar Slytherin kept in the Chamber of Secrets, it's a _basilisk!_' said Harry with such enthusiasm that it became a wonder to Mr and Mrs Clark why he had been acting like so. Especially with the expression they both had on their faces.

_'A basilisk?' _they both said in unison.

'You mean a really big serpent?' continued Mr Clark.

'Yeah, see.' Harry allowed him to scan the page Hermione had.

He exchanged expressions, and then a knock came.

Wigan stood at the door, quite anxious about something. He gestured to Mr Clark that he needed to talk to him quickly. So Mr Clark stood up straight, blinked a little, shook his head and started for the door. He was gone for a while whilst Liam, Ron and Callum scuttled around Harry in order to read the torn off page.

'If the basilisk kills someone if they look it in the eyes, why aren't any of these people dead?' asked Callum.

'Because none of them really did look it in the eye,' Liam said, and he felt himself catching onto this, even though most of his mind was around saving his godfather from Azkaban.

'Right!' said Harry. 'Colin Creevy saw it through his camera, and the film was all burned up by the basilisk, so Colin ended up being Petrified instead of dead. Justin … must have seen it through Nearly-Headless Nick, who probably did look at the basilisk, but it's impossible for him to die _again. _Hermione saw it through the mirror and Tessa saw its reflection in a trophy casing.'

'But what about Filch's cat, Mrs Norris?' asked Ron.

'There was water on the floor,' said Liam. 'I remember that because I slipped on it and hit my head on the wall after I looked at … at Nord …' his voice was trailing away. 'I have a strange feeling that Nord may be linked to this.'

'Why?' asked Harry.

'When were both in here that one time, we watched Wigan drag Nord to McGonagall and McDonald's office to report that he'd be roaming around that out-of-bounds girl's lavatory after dark,' said Liam. 'Once we figured out that Moaning Myrtle lived there, I thought maybe Nord might have had a thing for her, but now … now I think that there may be something else there, something we may have missed … or better, he could be the Heir of Slytherin.'

'I don't know, Liam, I mean, Nord's a sketchy bloke, but that doesn't mean he's anything funny or something like it,' said Callum. 'Yeah, he's rude, he's a Slytherin and may have cause you that bump-in-the-wall trip when Filch's cat was Petrified, but that doesn't mean that he would be anything like the Heir of Slytherin.'

'Nord made you do that?' asked Mrs Clark. They had forgotten that she'd been standing there, above them, having their conversation as the only means of entertainment. 'Nord cause you to bump your head on the wall, that day?'

'Yeah … it's a long story. I looked at him and he appeared as something I saw in a nightmare the night before, so I absentmindedly spun around and headed right into the wall,' said Liam. Then something else dawned on him. 'Then how come we can hear the snake?' he was posing the question to his friends.

'You heard the basilisk speak – as in _English?' _asked Mrs Clark. She looked a little concerned.

'Well, not all of us, just Liam and I,' said Harry. 'We've been hearing it whisper from place to place, although no one else could.'

'You two?' her finger was swinging from Liam to Harry. They both nodded. 'You're a Parselmouth?' stated Mrs Clark, quite taken aback. In fact, if there was a competition about shocked faces, Mrs Clark would have won by far.

'A Parsel-what?' asked Harry and Liam at the same time.

'No!' snapped Ron and Callum at the same time. The two of them would have come second and third in the competition. 'Surely not!'

'What the heck is a Parsel-what's-it?' asked Liam.

'A Parseltongue is the language of the snakes. Any person who can speak Parseltongue is considered a Parselmouth, someone who can speak to snakes and likewise,' said Mrs Clark, her eyes going wider by the second.

'Okay … why does it seem like such a bad thing?' asked Liam. He looked at Ron and Callum, then back to his mother, then to Harry, who was as well as confused as he was.

Mrs Clark froze. Her eyes trailed to the door of which hid the presence of her husband and his close friend. Then she took a deep breath and spoke, not much more than a whisper, 'The ability to speak Parseltongue is a very rare thing, boys. Not many people can speak it, in fact, I bet you anything that if you waltz into some wizard's home and asked them if they knew anybody who spoke it, they'd say no. It also happens to be the language Salazar Slytherin was most famous for, hence his liking for snakes and his nickname "Serpent-tongue". I think the only people who would be able to speak Parseltongue was a possible descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself …'

'Which means that –' Harry stopped. He couldn't bring himself to saying it. He didn't know of any sleepwalking history with neither him nor his cousin. He looked at Liam, who looked back at him with the same type of expression on, 'We – we could be the Heir of Slytherin … we could've set the basilisk on everyone … endangered the whole school …'

'No – don't you _dare _think that,' said Mrs Clark, and she went down on her haunches so that she was eye-level with both Harry and Liam. She took them both by a shoulder each, and she said, 'Salazar Slytherin lived in the Middle Ages. There could be a possible two more that could be his heir. That doesn't particularly mean you two.'

'Honey …' called Mr Clark. They all turned to the door where Mr Clark stood with Wigan. 'We've got a _big _problem.'

'What is it?' asked Mrs Clark, getting back on her feet.

'Erm – I can't say – not in front of the kids – especially not Ron …' said Mr Clark. Ron's brows puckered.

'Surely it can't be _that _important dad,' said Liam. The others were wondering what he was doing.

'Oh, trust me, it is,' said Mr Clark.

'But what about the basilisk … and, and Venus … what happens if the Auror thingys get him? What then?' said Liam.

'Liam, now is not the time to play games,' said Mr Clark.

'Surely your minds on all that, too …'

'I've got too much to deal with at the moment, son, stop that.'

'So what, the others aren't a priority to you anymore,' said Liam.

'Saving Ginny's life is just as important as Venus's and the whereabouts of that basilisk of yours!' said Mr Clark, absentmindedly. They all looked shocked.

_'Thomas!' _snapped Mrs Clark.

'Oh you sneaky, little boy,' said Mr Clark, referring to Liam, who would have smiled if what Mr Clark had said was something a little less shocking.

'What about my sister?' asked Ron.

Mr Clark sighed. 'She's been taken to the Chamber of Secrets by the basilisk … with a message left on the wall saying … saying _"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."' _

'What?' said all five of them, including Mrs Clark.

'There's got to be something we can do to save her … I mean … we – we can't just let her _die _like that!' said Mrs Clark.

'We would be able to do something if we could find a way into the Chamber of Secrets, but we can't – we don't know where it is. Unless, somehow, we can figure out something that could lead to it, I don't see how we even have a chance in finding Ron's sister.'

'Aragog said that that girl who died was found in a bathroom,' said Harry. 'What if she never left the bathroom? What if she's still there?'

'Moaning Myrtle! She might know something about it!' said Liam. 'But what about Venus? He's still being hunted!'

'I wouldn't worry about me, dear boy,' said the familiar voice. Venus popped up from behind the door, 'because I'll be right behind you all the way to wherever you're planning on going …' and they heard muffling. '… oh, and so will he.' He pushed the door opened revealing a restraint Gilderoy Lockhart. 'He's a fraud, the scumbag!'

_'Wigan!' _yelled Mrs Clark.

'What? Angela, he took credit for what other people did and put them in books!' said Wigan. 'At least I did everything I wrote about.'

'OI! MYRTLE!' yelled Liam.

_'Who is it!' _croaked Moaning Myrtle. She came floating into sight. 'Oh, it's you four, and two other people … _huh _… isn't that Venus Sting!'

'Yeah, yeah, he's not here to kill me,' said Liam. 'We need to ask you something.'

'What?'

'How you died,' said Harry.

'Oh, it was terrible – terrible!' she screeched. 'I died right over there in that very cubicle. This memory never escapes me. I'd been hiding from Olivia Hornby because she was teasing me about my glasses! The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard something. Somebody came in and began to talk in some funny language, I think it may have been a different language. But the thing that irked me was that it was a _boy _that spoke, so I got out the stall and, well –' Myrtle began to swell, 'I _died.'_

'Just like that?' asked Harry.

Myrtle nodded.

'Oh that's shocking,' said Venus, who had obviously never heard something like such in his years of living. To be fair, he had been locked up for the most of twelve years.

'How?' asked Harry.

'I'm not sure,' Myrtle said simply. 'I just remembered seeing a pair of big, yellow eyes. My whole body felt as though is seized up, and then I was floating away … and then I came back again, to haunt the bathrooms as a ghost. I was actually determined to haunt Olivia Hornby, for if not for her, I'd still be alive, possibly as some old person residing somewhere in some house with some handsome wizard.'

'Tell me,' said Harry, 'where did you see the yellow eyes?'

'Somewhere over there,' said Myrtle, pointing at the sink in front of her toilet.

Harry, Liam, Ron and Callum raced over to the sink. Venus, pointing a wand in Lockhart's direction, watched as they approached it. Venus had to admit that he was a little bit frightened that maybe the serpent would pop out as they opened it and kill them. It caused him to move his wand a little to the left so that if anything were to happen, he would quickly distract the beast long enough to get the kids out of the way. He wasn't too sure what could kill a basilisk, other than a rooster, which they unfortunately didn't have at their disposal.

The sink was like any other ordinary sink. All four of them scanned every inch of it. Just out of luck was it that Harry had spotted it: scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake, similar to that of the Slytherin one.

'That tap's never worked,' said Myrtle.

'And it seems with good reason,' said Liam.

'Say something,' said Ron.

'What?' stammered Liam and Harry.

'In Parseltongue – say something in Parseltongue!'

Harry and Liam looked at each other. Harry was the only one of the two who had ever spoken Parseltongue in their life, and that was when he was facing a real snake, who was in a glass casing. But Liam, he never recalled coming across a snake in his life. Not even at the zoo.

So Harry stared at the tap and thought hard.

'Open up,' he said.

'We all heard that … in English,' said Callum.

'Try again,' said Liam.

Harry stared at the tap harder.

'Open up,' he said.

This time, it came out like a hiss. Liam was the only one of the few who thought it sounded remarkably alike the first attempt. Obviously it wasn't, because they were all able to see the tap glow a bright white, and then it began to spin. In seconds, the sink started to move, and it sank out of sight. There remained a man-sized pipe, leading into nothing but darkness.

'Well done, boys,' said Venus. 'I better warn your parents. Lockhart, you're going down there with them and you better look after them or I'll hunt you down.'

Lockhart swallowed hard. Venus gave him a stinging stare and slowly made his way out of the bathroom, where they had left Mr and Mrs Clark. The four boy looked at Lockhart, who was beyond nervous. They then took one step aside, making a path for Lockhart to go first.

'Come on, boys, be rational. Me? Go first? Wouldn't you like me to be on the lookout or something, you know, stay up here. I'll still be looking after you guys …'

'From what, the teachers? What's the worse they can do? My parents already know about this,' said Liam. 'In you go, Lockhart, or I'm calling Sting to come push you in.'

'Oh, all right!' Lockhart, whose arms were tied to his body with ropes, hobbled his way towards the man-sizes hole. 'What good will this do?'

_'In!' _they all spat. Lockhart jumped on the spot and hesitated as he looked down the dark pipe. 'Can I at least have use of my arms?'

'Fine,' said Ron, and he took out a pocketknife and cut him free. 'Now, in!'

Lockhart slid his legs into the pipe, hesitating, but Ron had pushed him in. Harry then went in next, then Liam, then Ron and then Callum. It felt as though they were speeding down a slimy, dark slide. Nothing could be seen, and their best option was to lie on their backs in case of any sudden turns or drops. They could feel that they were dropping deeper beneath the school that not even the dungeons could compare to it. All this ended up to Harry thinking about how he was going to land, but he shot out at the end of the pipe and landed on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel.

He got up quick enough to avoid whoever got in after him, and dusted himself off. Lockhart seemed dazed. He had been getting up himself a little farther than where Harry landed. Liam came darting out of the pipe and stood himself, flustered by the exhilarating ride, and joined Harry as he dusted himself off. Ron came down next, and after a little while, so did Callum. Lockhart appeared to be the most frightened out of the four twelve-year-old boys, he was actually wondering how they never found this scary. He was ghost white and may have been lightly quivering.

'I wonder how far down under the school we've gone,' said Callum.

'Far enough,' said Ron.

The area was just dark. Wherever they turned, darkness engulfed the place. Harry took out his wand.

_'Lumos!' _and a small light beamed from the tip of Harry's wand. 'C'mon.' His three friends and Lockhart followed after him, the small beam of light being their only means of vision. With each step they took, they could hear it slap loudly against the ground whilst proceeding forward.

'Remember ... if you sense any movement, shut your eyes immediately,' said Harry.

But they kept walking in the cold, damp stone tunnel on an ongoing path of some type of wet, slimy substance. A couple more feet they walk and they heard at echoing _crunch_ as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Callum shivered after experiencing that from up close. Harry shun his light above the floor. It was spoiled with tiny bones. Harry and Liam tried not to imagine Ginny in any state similar if they were to find her dead.

'Hey, what's that?' asked Ron, pointing to something that may have been the basilisk.

Harry shun his light on it.

'Bloody hell,' muttered Liam, as he saw the light shine upon an enormous snakeskin. It was a vivid, poisonous green and lay folded and hollow on the floor. Callum once again shivered from the sudden sight of the gigantic snakeskin.

Liam trialled his eyes around, Lockhart seemed to be slowly backing away. With one sharp swing, Liam face Ron and said, 'Why don't you walk behind Lockhart, make sure he doesn't dash without us?'

Ron reluctantly obliged to it. It was one thing being down in a chamber with a deadly creature that could stare you to dead, but it was another thing to be down there without and adult. So Ron walked around Lockhart and gave him and right hard poke in the back. Lockhart, however, spun around and seized Ron's wand. Ron spun ahead of Lockhart towards Callum, the only one of his friends that was closest to her.

'I'm quite sorry, but the adventure ends here, boys!' said Lockhart. 'I'll take bits of the skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you two _tragically _lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. I'm quite good at Memory Charms, boys, so say goodbye to your memories!'

Ron's wand had been heavily Spellotaped since the day he and Harry crashed into the Whomping Willow. Lockhart raised the pathetically mended wand and yelled, _'Obliviate!' _

Harry and Liam were quick enough to move out of the way. They jumped farther away from the rest as they watched the wand explode, as though some mystical force had picked Lockhart up and threw him against the stone walls of the tunnel. In a flurry, dust engulfed the area and, once it cleared, Harry and Liam were coughing and staring at a solid wall of broken rock.

'Ron! Callum!' yelled Harry and Liam. 'Are you two okay?'

'Yeah,' one of them answered, coughing from the dust afterwards.

'The old git got blast by my wand, though,' said Ron. 'What now? We can't waste time on getting through, Ginny would be long gone by the time we finish it all.'

Harry and Liam looked behind them. The tunnel led into more darkness and the light from Harry's wand had been pilfered by the thick dust. 'Wait with Lockhart. We'll go ahead,' Liam heard Harry say.

'Okay. We'll try our best to shift the rocks out of the way,' said Callum. 'By the time you get back it'll be clear enough for you to get through – hopefully.'

'Harry, Liam –'

'We'll see you soon,' said Liam. He could hear that they were both rather scare, not only for themselves, but for them too. Harry and Liam began to walk on, both lighting their wands as they disappeared into the darkness. Sooner or later they could hear nothing, Callum and Ron's struggle to remove the rocks had faded away. They felt as hollow as that snakeskin they found, and it felt as though some type of small stick was stirring in the emptiness of their stomachs, giving them and unpleasant feeling about this. There was a bend at last and as Harry and Liam rounded it, they faced a solid wall on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes were gleaming with green emeralds.

They approached the wall, swallowed hard and opened their mouths to attempt to speak in Parseltongue again, this time Liam tried too.

_'Open,' _they both said, in a slow hiss.

The serpents parted each other and the wall broke apart, the halves sliding smoothly out of sight. Harry and Liam swallowed again, looked at each other and took a deep breath. They both were shaking and rather scared, and they walked in, clutching their wands tightly.


	14. The Heirs of Slytherin

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Heirs of Slytherin

They were standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. There were long, black shadows casted upon the floor by towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents. They rose through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

Harry could feel his breath seize in his chest; his heart was beating very fast. He stood in silence, only hearing the shallows gasps breathed by his cousin. Both Harry and Liam were quite unsure whether the basilisk was lurking in some shadowy corner somewhere or not. They both stood there unsure of what to do next.

"Where's Ginny?" asked Liam. Something then dawned on him, and he thought — or rather hoped — that what he was about to say might enlighten the tension. "What does Ginny look like?" He had heard of Ginny Weasley from Ron but has never come into physical contact with the youngest Weasley.

Harry had just looked at his cousin and frowned, then looked back into the dimly lit chamber. He took out his wand and led the way passed the serpentine pillars, Liam reluctantly following. He made sure to lag behind in case something were to happen. Of course he would have to find a way to secure his cousin whilst running away. Their shoes clapped against the lane; their steps echoing off the walls. Their eyes were slightly closed; they were ready to shut them when a hint of movement came.

They at last drew level with the last pair of pillars and came in contact with a statue, which was standing as high as the Chamber. It had been standing against the back wall. They opened their eyes to get a proper look at it. It had been a giant face towering them, ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that spread out around him, and twisted into serpents at the tips.

And between two serpents, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Harry, that's —"

"Ginny!" cried Harry. He started for the robed figure and dropped down on his knees. Liam stood above him, looking, with a anxious expression, at the pale face of Ginny Weasley.

"She's not —" said Liam, however he swallowed the words before he said them.

"No!" said Harry, casting his wand aside and grabbing Ginny by her shoulders, shaking her from side to side. Nothing came of this, her head just lolled back and forth. "Ginny, wake up, please! Wake up! Help me out here, Liam."

Liam placed his wand beside them and kneeled down as Harry did, trying to find a way to assist in waking Ginny. All he could do was watch as Harry helplessly shook her. He did not know a spell that would possibly revive her as she lay limp in the arms of his cousin.

"Ginny," said Liam, "please ..."

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Liam jumped to his feet whilst Harry spun on his knees.

In front of them stood a tall, black-haired boy. He was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching with a blank face. They narrowed their eyes; the boy was slightly blurred around the edges. Liam had no clue who he was, but Harry knew him at once —

"Tom — Tom Riddle?" stuttered Harry. "What d'you mean? Why won't she wake? She's not — she's not —"

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

Liam and Harry stared at him. The boy who stood before them had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, how was it that he stood, leaning on a pillar, appearing not to have aged from when Harry had seen him in the diary.

"Tom Riddle?" asked Liam. "The boy you saw in that diary from, what, fifty years ago? How are you still —"

"Young?" asked Riddle. "I'm a memory ... preserved in a diary for fifty years."

Riddle pointed toward the floor. Lying open was the little black diary Harry and Liam found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Harry saw Liam's brows narrow. He assumed he was wondering the same thing he was: how did the diary get there ... but it cleared from his mind because there were more important matters to deal with.

"You've got to help us, Tom," Harry said, Liam watched as he raised Ginny's head again. "Please. We've got to get out of here ... get her out of here. There's a basilisk ... I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment ... Please, help us, Liam —"

Harry brought one of Ginny's arms around him and Liam assisted on the other side. Riddle, however, did not move. He remained in his spot, watching as they both bent down to pick up their wands.

But their wands were gone.

"Did you see — ?"

They both looked up. Riddle had their wands tucked into his hand. He tapped them against his arm whilst they goggled at him.

"Thanks," they both said in unison.

But Riddle merely smiled.

"Hello!" began Liam. "Didn't you hear him? There's a great big snake that could kill us with the wink of its eyes somewhere along the way! If we don't go now we —"

"It won't come unless it's called," said Riddle.

"Look ... we might need our wands, so if you could just hand them over —"

"You won't be needing them," said another serene voice.

From behind one of the pillars came a slim boy about the same height as Riddle. He had brown hair and green eyes that seemed oddly familiar. He walked to Riddle, who gave him Liam's wand, and they both began to twirl the wands inactively. Both were smiling and both did not stir to aid Harry and Liam.

"We've waited for a long time for this, boys," said the other boy. "For a chance to see the Boys Who Lived. A chance to speak to the famous William Clark and Harry Potter."

"That's nice, almost everybody does," said Liam, "but right now, we've got to get out of here. This is the Chamber of Secrets! You know ... supposed to be none existent chamber made by Salazar Slytherin himself. And maybe with the help of his dear pal Sargas Scorpiosting ... ring a bell? Well if it does, you should know that there happens to be a basilisk here, so if you don't mind, we can talk later —"

"We're going to talk now," said Riddle and his unforeseen friend together. They glanced at each other and their smiles grew wider.

Harry and Liam looked at each other as well, and looked back as Riddle and his friend did the same.

"How'd Ginny become like this?" asked Harry.

"That, Harry Potter, is a very interesting question," said Riddle. "And the story is quite long."

"You can say Ginny Weasley's like that because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger," said the friend. "The diary," the friend had pointed to the opened black book, "is his diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling him all her pitiful worries and woes — how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how" — Riddle and his friend's eyes glinted — "how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her …"

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," Riddle went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom ... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in ... It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket ..."

Riddle and his friend laughed such a cold and unlikely laugh that it made the hairs on the back of their necks stand.

"We have to admit, we're very persuasive, boys ... very convincing. We've always been able to charm the people we needed. So poor Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted … I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her …"

"What d'you mean?" said Harry.

"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry whispered.

"That can't have been ... Ginny —"

"Was the girl that ran passed the two of you earlier today," said the friend.

"Wha— how do you know that?"

"Because I saw it," said the friend, his smile growing even wider, "in a nearby corridor, in Slytherin robes and in the form of a twelve-year-old boy. I know a lot of things about you, William Clark. How you saw Venus Sting before colliding into the castle walls. How you were poisoned during the Christmas break ... I know everything."

"How — no —" said Liam as he recognised the face of the Slytherin boy. "Nord? Henry Nord?"

"Well, my mother actually left me the name Louis, but if I used that I wouldn't have come as far as I did. What with nearly every professor here remembering the name Louis Nord," said Nord. Neither Harry nor Liam could believe their eyes. The Nord they were used to seeing, or rather dreaded to see everyday, was a young, twelve-year-old boy who looked much older than he was supposed to. In fact, his features seemed to have suited the way he presented himself now; the tall, sixteen-year-old Hogwarts student.

Now they knew something was very wrong.

"Can't believe it?" said Nord. "Well, what if I had to say my memory was also preserved? Only, I decided a boy name Caleb was a better choice than Ginny Weasley," said Nord. "Of course, neither of them knew what they were doing at first. It was very amusing, well with Ginny anyway. I felt the boy just slipped into my arms ..."

"I wish you could have seen her new diary entries …" said Riddle. "Far more interesting, they became … Dear Tom," he recited whilst Nord began to snicker, "I think I'm losing my memory. Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me. … There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad … I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!"

Nord and Riddle seemed to have found Liam and Harry's expressions were very amusing. They both clenched their free hands into fist.

"It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to get rid of it. And that's where you two came in. You two found it, and we couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you two, the very two people we were most anxious to meet ..."

"And why, exactly, do you want to meet us?" asked Harry. He was so angry that he was afraid that he would squeeze Ginny instead.

"Ginny seemed to know a lot about you two," said Nord. "Both of you seemed to have a fascinating history." Their eyes moved simultaneously to the lightning scar on their foreheads, their expressions becoming hungrier. "We knew we must find out more about you two, talk to you, meet you if we could. So Tom decided to show Harry his famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust —"

"Hey! Hagrid's our friend!" snapped Harry. "And you framed him. I thought you made a mistake, we thought you made a mistake but —"

Riddle laughed his high laugh again.

"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student … on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls … but I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked, we both were. I thought someone must realise that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance … as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!

"Only the Transfiguration teachers, Dumbledore and Glumberry, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. They persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore and Glumberry might have guessed … They never seemed to like us as much as the other teachers did …"

"I bet Dumbledore and Glumberry saw right through you," said Liam, his teeth gritted.

"Well, they certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on Nord and I after Hagrid was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "We knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while we were still at school. But we weren't going to waste those long years we'd spent searching for it. So I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"And you?" asked Liam, looking at Nord. "How did you come into the picture?"

"Once we saw the power one small book could cause, I decided to do exactly what Tom had said: to preserve his memory in a diary and give it to someone in Hogwarts, to fulfil Slytherin's task," said Nord.

"Well, you haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again —"

"Haven't we already told you," said Riddle, he and Nord snickered again, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to us anymore? For many months now, our new target has been — you two."

"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you what was happening? So she tried to steal it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery — particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue …

"So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much life left in her … She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last … We have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. We knew you'd come. We have many questions for you, Harry Potter and William Clark."

"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.

"Well," said Nord, "how is it that two skinny boys with no extraordinary magical talent whatsoever managed to defeat the greatest wizards of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor's powers were destroyed?"

"That shouldn't concern you!" said Liam. "They were after your time."

"Oh foolish little boys," said Nord. "They happen to be our past, present and future ... Would you like to do the honours, Tom?"

"Gladly." Riddle took Harry's wand and began to trace it through the air, writing three flaming words:

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Then, which a single wave from his wand, the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

I am Lord Voldemort.

"Confused?" asked Nord, who took from Liam and Harry's expression the amount of effort it took to comprehend the situation. "You couldn't have thought we would've kept the names of our filthy Muggle fathers, now could you? It was, so to say, our nicknames used among our friends when at school. A name we knew people would fear one day in age. And certainly not when we have the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself. We wanted a new name to fit the title of the greatest sorcerer ever."

"But you're not," said Harry, Liam wishing his cousin had not said anything.

"Excuse me?" asked both Nord and Riddle.

"You're not." Harry looked at Liam and hoped he knew where he was going with this. "The moment I learnt about this place, the most powerful sorcerer in the world is Albus Dumbledore, and I'm sure everyone's said the same about Glumberry to Liam. You two are afraid of them defeating you, which is why you didn't want to face yourselves when you were reign a long while back —"

"Do you not understand the event! Those two were driven out of the castle by the mere memory of me! By the mere memory of him! We, a figure residing in a diary, managed to welcome Dumbledore and Glumberry to a jail cell in Azkaban. No one can COMPARE!"

"But they can!" said Liam. He was going to say more only music came out of nowhere ... and growing louder. Harry and Liam looked behind them, where a crimson bird, the size of a swan, came soaring in, gripping a ragged bundle.

"Fawkes?" they both mumbled as the bird came at them, dropping the bundle at their feet and landing on Harry's shoulder.

"A phoenix?" said Riddle. "And the old school hat?" Riddle pointed at the frayed and patched hat.

"Pathetic!" smirked Nord. "Your great and powerful saviours send you a dusty old hat and an overgrown bird! Make a thing out of that against us, boys!"

"Calm, my friend," said Riddle. "Let us carry on, shall we? What I'm curious to know, dear friend, is how they managed to defeat us once in passing, how you, Harry Potter, succeeded in eluding your death in the most recent year? That is the only thing we wish to know and we can surely promise that the longer you talk the longer you get to stay alive."

Whilst the two stood thinking, Nord and Riddle took the joy in twirling Liam and Harry's wands again, and smiling whilst doing so. They knew the longer they stood there the more time they had to live, but they unfortunately could not say the same about Ginny.

"Do you know how joyful it would be to kill a person with his own wand?" asked Nord.

"Look ... we don't know the details ... no one does! We were one, we didn't even know the basic laws of magic when it happened!" said Liam. Riddle and Nord looked morally disappointed, but smiled all the same.

"But there is a reason why you couldn't kill us," said Harry. "In some way or another, our parents sacrificed themselves for us. On my part it was my mother, who died for me. My Muggle mother. I may not know a lot about you, Nord, but I do know about Riddle. I saw you last year, barely holding on, I'd say. You lost your powers, you were broken, helpless ..."

"But it was not you who did anything. You didn't save yourself. There really isn't anything extraordinary about you after all ... and if it's like that with you, Potter, it would be the same with Clark. So I suppose you just got lucky that night," Riddle said. "Now since you two are so fond of the Headmasters of Hogwarts, I think we ought to teach you two a lesson. Let's match the powers of the great lords Voldemort and Valindor, Heirs of Salazar Slytherin, the greatest of the four, with the luck of the famous Boys Who Lived!"

He nodded in Nord's direction, and immediately his friend spun to the statue of Slytherin himself with his mouth open. He began to hiss, but both Liam and Harry understood what he said clearly.

"Speak to me, oh great Slytherin, preeminent of the Hogwarts four."

Slytherin's face shifted to make a deep hole from his mouth, and in it was something slithering out. Something large.

Harry saw his cousin back away slowly, and he himself did not hesitate to do the same. Fawkes took flight from Harry's shoulder. At I still have Liam ... who is just as useless as I am in this case, thought Harry. They hit the wall and it was both their instinct to shut their eyes closed.

They both got a shock, despite it being inevitable, when something hit the ground. And then both Riddle and Nord said, as clear as day, in hisses:

"Kill them."

The large basilisk came towards the two cousins, who could not think of much but the fact that they were done for. As the sound of the huge snake became distinctively louder, Harry and Liam decided to act. They ran, first into each other, then in opposite directions. Blindly they ran, with arms outstretched searching for signs of nearby walls, and hoping not to approach the basilisk by mistake. Nord and Riddle laughed and Harry tripped.

"Harry?" asked Liam, as he heard the splash of Harry falling. He heard the basilisk's movement feinting away from him.

And Harry was fearing for the worst when he heard it come for him.

"It's coming for me, Liam!"

In the spur of the moment, Liam opened his eyes. He didn't care whether it might have been a trick or not, he just wanted to know how far away from the basilisk his cousin was. And suddenly he felt trivial. However not facing him, the basilisk was intimidating, with its thick, trunk-like green body. He couldn't understand why it stopped moving, but, then again, there wasn't really any space to think about that in a mind clouded with fear.

But then he saw something jet back into the face of the basilisk, and it gave out a loud roar of pain. It was like watching a crimson flare brush past in the eerie green glow of the chamber, and that crimson flare went charging back into the unseen face of the wretched beast. The beast came swinging in his direction, and he slipped and fell, too. Closing his eyes did not occur to him, he kept his eyes on the crimson flare ... the phoenix that came to their rescue.

"NO!" roared Nord and Riddle.

"YOU MAY HAVE BLINDED THE BASILISK, BUT HE CAN STILL SMELL YOU!" continued Riddle.

The basilisk's head swung back and forth, eventually throwing Fawkes back with incredible force. Harry and Liam looked at each other and got up, running toward the wall they were stuck on earlier. The snake's enormous head swayed from direction to direction in search of the two boys, until finally it locked on its senses and smelt their position. Harry and Liam looked straight into its bulbous yellow eyes, and how much damaged the bird had done to it.

"What are you waiting for ... kill them!" said Nord and Riddle.

"What are we going to do?" mumbled Liam.

"Run!" said Harry. And they ran in opposite directions again.

The snake stopped, confused. Liam took a moment to look back and smiled, saying, "It's confused, Harry! It can't find us!"

No! thought Harry. Liam, you idiot! The snake swerved in the direction of Liam's voice, and came charging for him. Liam only then realised what he did and ran.

We need help — anything — thought Harry. He saw Fawkes circling the beast's head. Something —

"HARRY!"

"Shut up!" Harry wished he did not say that. The snake swung to his direction, nearly knocking Liam with its tail as it turned. It came charging for him instead. Help me — help me — Harry cried in his head. He ran and nearly tripped over the bundle that lay on the floor. The hat lay in front of him, and something glistened from inside. Rubies, red and shinning, twinkled from within the frayed old hat.

Harry moved immediately and grabbed it, pulling it out. He held it above his head as the snake came closer to him. He was ready to use it, ready to swing it aimlessly at a target he could barely hit. The snake came darting at Harry at great speed, but it did not make contact with him or come any closer.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" yelled Liam from behind the snake. It swung again, racing towards Liam at the same kind of speed.

"NO! YOU NEARLY HAD HIM!" yelled Riddle and Nord.

The snake caught up with Liam, who could not think of anything more. The snake towered him and then came rushing down like a train in motion. Only Liam jumped out of the way and went running towards Ginny.

"HEY!" Harry called. The basilisk went for him next. He felt like he was the only one who could do anything. After all, he was the only one with the weapon. The snake came, just like it had Liam, and briskly missed Harry as it passed. Harry stumbled back closer to Liam and Ginny.

The snake lunged itself toward him, only this time Harry knew that it was coming straight for him, mouth wide open and bearing rows of and rows of yellowish teeth. He held the sword tightly in both hands, and waited.

"Don't say anything, Liam!" said Harry. He felt that Liam was going to say something to prevent this attack. He was determined and for good reason. The neck thing he knew the sword had penetrated the roof of the snake's mouth. And along with its warm blood came a searing pain.

"Harry!" yelled Liam.

The basilisk fell to its side as Harry noticed the source of the pain. A long, poisonous fang was left, splintered, in his arm. Harry felt the pain spreading from the wound, and his eyesight was clouding up. He walked on, toward the blotch he thought was his cousin. Something red joined in, and Harry crumbled to his knees. The next moment he felt hands trying to keep him upright. Liam's voice rung in his ears.

"Harry! Harry! Stay with me! Come on! Harry!"

The hands shook him, trying to keep him up, trying to keep him from closing his eyes. Fawkes came to his side, too, squawking softly as Liam attempted to keep his cousin awake. Voldemort and Valindor laughed.

"Funny thing, a basilisk fang," said Nord. "You'll be dead in a couple of minutes."

"We're gonna sit back and watch you die, Harry Potter, and watch the pitiful anguish on your cousin's face —"

"SHUT IT!" yelled Liam. "Oh don't cry, Fawkes, it's not making this better ... COME ON! STAY HERE, HARRY! STAY WITH ME!"

Harry felt drowsy. He couldn't remember feeling so week before. Liam pulled out the fang and clutched it in his hand. And that seemed to have done the trick. Harry was feeling better and better, for a dying person.

"Such a joy watching two helpless young school kids die. Say goodbye, Harry Potter," said Nord.

"You shut your mouth!" snapped Liam. Harry saw his cousin's heads sway to the two dark lords, clearly. Everything was coming back into focus.

"Liam ... the diary ..." said Harry, who although thought he was weak, felt stronger in saying that. He thought maybe destroying the diary might do something. He didn't know, it was merely an instinct.

In moments, Liam scooped up the diary in his hands. Harry knew it couldn't have been too far out of reach. He didn't need to be told what to do, Liam had a similar idea. Both fang and diary were in hand ... and a moment later the fang was protruding from the heart of the book.

"No! What have you done!" the two dark lords said.

There was a loud scream coming from the book. It made Liam drop it as though it stung him. Ink exploded from the book, like a volcano, from the very middle where the fang was, spreading across the chamber floor. A blinding, white light engulfed the gloomy area, and then it was gone, and Riddle and Nord with it.

The diary lay on the floor, swimming in its own inky waste. A hole was singed right through the middle due to the venom from the basilisk fang, which lay covered in the ink beside the diary.

Harry sat up to his shocked cousin, who hands were covered in the oozy black substance. Liam got a fright when seeing his cousin sitting, lively, beside him. A smile crept on both their faces, until a thought dawned on them: Ginny.

As they both bolted up, a moan resonated in the chamber. Ginny was alive. She was waking up. They both crashed down beside her, holding her upright as she scanned her surroundings. She saw the dead basilisk, then the destroyed diary, and then Harry and Liam. Tears began to dribble down her face.

"Oh — I'm sorry — I'm so sorry — I tried — I tried to tell you — it was me, Harry — all me — I didn't mean to — I really didn't mean to — Riddle —"

"Calm down, Ginny," said Liam. "It's all right. Riddle and Nord are gone."

"I'm going to be expelled! They're going to send me home —"

"They won't send you home," said Harry. He wasn't too sure about that but knew Dumbledore and Glumberry knew better than to expel Ginny. "Come on, you're safe now, Ginny. Let's get back to the castle."


	15. The Fake Follower

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Fake Follower

"Ginny!"

Mr and Mrs Weasley came rushing into the little first-year girl squeezed in between Harry, Liam, Callum, Ron and the loopy Lockhart. There were sitting in front of the fire in Dumbledore and Glumberry's office, which was, apart from Professor McGonagall and Professor McDonald, otherwise emptier than they expected it to be. Not a single headmaster or headmistress was in their portraits, which probably gave the eerie feeling that the Headmasters' office was empty.

"You saved her! You saved her! How on earth did you manage!" Mrs Weasley was practically swinging Ginny around with her arms.

"I think we would all like to know about that," said Professor McDonald. Her hawkish features dominant with the tone of emptiness.

"Can we not do this when Glumberry and Dumbledore get back, Elaine? I'm sure they would like to be in this council as well. And Thomas and Angela," said Mr Weasley in such a happy tone. However, Liam and Harry could not make out anything happy about dragging Mr and Mrs Clark into this matter.

"Where is Dumbledore and Glumberry?" asked Ron.

"Oh —" said Mr Weasley, stuttering. "Well ... while you were gone ... the Ministry ... they ... they found Venus Sting ..."

"What?" asked Liam.

"Well they haven't really caught him as yet ... but they nearly cornered him at one stage."

"But he's innocent!" said Liam, who was already making his way to the oak doors of the room.

"Liam! It won't be wise to drag yourself into this," said Mr Weasley. "Your mother and father have a good search party for him. They'll find him before the Ministry does ... they'll find him before the Aurors ..."

"And then what? My father and mother are caught trying to aid a supposed murderer and they, too, are imprisoned?" asked Liam, complete anger spread in his voice. "I need to be there to show them that he's innocent, to show them that Venus had no part in the Dark Lords's sick team in the old days. They won't listen otherwise. At least when I'm there, the Ministry would see Venus doesn't want to kill me, and probably did not kill anyone before me!"

"You can't do this, Liam, it's too dangerous for a kid your age —" said Mr Weasley.

"Harry and I just went to a chamber that is supposed to he non-existent! He nearly died for Ginny from facing off a giant snake, in fact for a moment I thought he was ... how exactly is this more dangerous than a battle between us and that?"

No one answered, but what surprised him most was that Harry wasn't joining him in his protest. It, in truth, appeared as though he didn't want to. But Liam knew if he was to fight his way to Venus, he needed to push Harry's absence of speech aside.

"Now, if you may excuse me, I've got to get him back ... now or never," said Liam. He turned to the door and pulled, but it did not budge. Rolling his eyes he turned and looked at the first person who had their wand out: Professor McDonald. She broke into speech before he could say anymore.

"I know you love Venus, Mr Clark, but I just can not allow you to take part in this hunt," said Professor McDonald. "There are more than fifty wizards on this pursuit, twenty of which are fully trained in Magical Law. There will be spells shot from every angle and you can get critically injured or worse. These men were tasked to bring Sting to justice whether dead or alive, the public won't care."

"But he's innocent!" said Liam, almost whining.

"You might think so ... but they don't," said McDonald. Liam had a pitiful look on, which nearly convinced her of his determination, but she kept to her word. "If you wouldn't mind, Mr Clark, please have a seat." She was gesturing to a chair by the headmasters' table. It was also where Harry sat.

Liam reluctantly left his position at the door and approached Harry. He stood there in front of him, not even looking at him, and said, "I can't believe you didn't jump up to save him, too."

He sat, sulking, as Harry responded, "I guess that means you don't want to hear about my plan."

"What plan?" asked Liam.

Harry smiled and leaned closer to Liam. He began to whisper, and for seconds the two sat like that, secretly conspiring about this clandestine plan of Harry's, and when he was done he managed to bring out Liam's smile once more. He quickly shook it off, however, because he knew if he smiled as he asked this question they would know he was up to something.

"Fine, we'll stay up here," said Liam in his whinny voice. "Only at the moment, Ron, Harry, Callum and I need the bathroom."

"We do—?" asked Ron, who was quickly cut off by a swift elbow thrust to the chest by Harry. "We do. My bladder's really full," he said, rubbing his chest.

There was a moment's silence. The four adults exchanged looks and Ginny, who still was imprisoned within the arms of her mother, had a hint of comprehension in her expression, as though she had an idea of what they were up to. However, not intervening, Ginny stood in shock as her father stood forward. She hadn't thought they would have fallen for that.

Mr Weasley, although he stood forward, gave the four boys an apprehensive look. "This better not be a trick!"

"Mr Weasley, I myself am surprised I didn't take a leak by mistake when I met the basilisk," said Liam.

Mr Weasley looked at the other three, and the back at the boys. "All right, come on, then. There's a nearby bathroom up the hall from that gargoyle downstairs. But you better not get up to any funny business."

"Oh, Mr Weasley, you don't know what's coming," said Liam to Harry.

The four boys walked ahead of Mr Weasley, who gestured for Professor McDonald to unlock the door. When this was done, they all walked toward the stairway as it began to descend.

"It's up the hall," said Mr Weasley as they reached the floor below. Liam and Harry grouped ahead of the rest, Ron and Callum not knowing why.

"You go left, I'll go right. We'll regroup in the entrance hall," said Harry. And they slowed down; if they were going to bring Ron and Callum, they would need to take off together, even if they didn't know what was going on. Once Callum and Ron were level with them, Harry and Liam looked at each other and yelled, at the same time so that it echoed through the hall, "RUN!"

Acting on instinct, Ron and Callum ran, following Harry as he swung into the right hall. Liam, on his lonesome, sped left. In the confusion, Mr Weasley ran back to the stairway and jetted up it, crashing into the office yelling, "THEY RAN OFF!"

"What took you so long?" asked Harry as Liam arrived at the entrance hall a couple of minutes after he, Ron and Callum did.

"Oh, I dunno, maybe because my hall had a long runway before speeding down the stairs!" said Liam, panting.

"All right! Can somebody explain why we ran away from my father?" asked Ron.

"We're going to find Venus Sting before anyone else does," said Liam.

"But we need you two as a diversion," said Harry.

"Wait, during this diversion, can we stop at the bathroom, first?" asked Callum. " 'Cause I kind of actually needed to go."

"We don't care, so long as you two make it seem believable enough for Ron's parents and Professor McDonald and McGonagall to think we're with you," said Liam. "Talk loud enough for them to hear just not so loud that they know what you're doing."

"Pretend we've just come from the common room, and we're making our way down here," said Harry.

"So we're stalling them?" asked Ron.

"Yeah. Exactly," said Liam. "We need to prove to the Ministry that Venus isn't guilty, that he wasn't part of the Dark Lords' sick-minded gang. By doing that we're gonna need to find him before even my parents, and then we're gonna need to find Cornel and Fudge. We can prove to them that Venus isn't out to get me by standing right in front of him while he's armed with a wand."

"Sounds good ... except we don't really know how loyal Venus is. He may have just been making getting to you an easier event," said Callum.

"Yeah, how do we really know Venus is innocent. He showed up one day, the day Hagrid and Dreagon got sacked, and told you that he's innocent because he's your godfather. That doesn't prove anything, he could kill you the moment you find him," said Ron.

Liam didn't say a thing. He hadn't thought much about the process, but it did seem a bit odd. Venus randomly showed up after an eventful night, and claimed to be Liam and Harry's godfather. But his father turned out to believe him, too. Maybe there was something more to Thomas Clark's and Venus Sting's relationship than there appeared to be. He remembered his father saying Venus was a Scorpiosting student. But there was something odd about the colour on that picture in the attic. The colours seemed darker and much more similar to his father's.

"We're just gonna have to prove it, then," said Liam. "Good luck."

"The younger brothers of the Thompson and Weasley twins shouldn't need luck," said Callum.

"Touché," said Liam, and he and Harry left the entrance hall, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

"Where do you suppose he'll be running?" asked Harry as he and Liam race across the ground.

"Forbidden Forest. It's big, big enough to hide Venus. Not to forget dangerous. The whole episode with the giants spiders still hasn't died down just as yet," said Liam.

For a while they just ran, hoping that Venus would pop out of nowhere like he usually did, but that wasn't the case. They ran until they came up to Hagrid and Dreagon's hut, which was illuminated from the lights still blazing within. Fang was barking furiously, scratching at the door. There were voices sounding from afar. People were yellow from different places, Harry and Liam wondered where to start.

"We can't do nothing," said Harry, Fang's barking had died down. "All we're doing is standing here. The more we do this the better their chances get of finding him."

"Well we can't just go into the forest, we might never find our way back," said Liam. "And I'd rather not be a spider's dinner."

"Well where d'you suppose we look? He's more than likely to be running around the forest, and we're more than likely to bump into a member of the Ministry. This mission will be impossible to accomplish if our chances are thin," said Harry. "We need to think."

They stood thinking for a while, until the unusual silent night got to them.

"Hey, why'd Fang stop barking?" asked Liam, looking at the illuminated hut, scratching his chin.

"I dunno," said Harry. "Is there a problem with that."

"Dogs will find whatever excuse there is to make a noise, and they want attention. Once they get that, they stop making noise," said Liam. He began to make his way to the door of the hut.

"Liam —" but he could not grab his cousin's attention, so he ran after him. Liam was about to pull the door open when Harry grabbed his arm. "Venus or Fang?"

"Venus might be with Fang," said Liam, and he pulled his arm away from Harry and opened the door. There Fang lay like a large, fury lump, across the floor, panting and staring at them.

"What?" said Liam. "You can't've just stopped barking without a person to entertain you!"

"Maybe he found a toy or something," said Harry. Liam looked at him.

"What toy? The only entertainment he has is in Azkaban Prison, what else is there to play with?" asked Liam.

"Perhaps me," said a voice. Harry and Liam jumped, looking to the dark corner of the space. For a moment the two had the urge to run away, given what they had just been through, but once they saw just who it was, they smiled and tackled him with a hug.

"Wow! I don't think I've ever had one of these," said Venus Sting, his thin twigs for fingers trapped Harry and Liam in a hug. "What are they called again," he joked.

"Hugs," said Liam.

"We thought the Ministry had you!" said Harry.

"I'm a lot harder to catch than you think, dear Harry," said Venus, "though I can say they have been on quite the hunt, today. I've had a few close calls if I say so myself."

"It doesn't matter," said Liam, who stepped away from him; Harry followed, "what matters is that we get you out of here, safe and sound."

"It's not as easy as it sound, Liam, you might be spotted —"

"I don't care! Spot me if they have to, they'll know you're innocent!" said Liam.

"Proving I'm innocent's going to be a lot harder than that —"

"SSSHT!" spat Harry. The hut fell silent.

"Harry, what's —"

"Be quiet!" snapped Harry.

"Are you sure, Thomas?" yelled a voice nearby.

"Dad?" whispered Liam.

"Positive!" yelled the familiar voice of Thomas Clark.

Stopping feet resounded outside, and then suddenly a mass of people gathered around near the grove of trees leading into the Forbidden Forest. Thomas Clark happened to be the closest man to them, and behind him stood his wife, Angela, and their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Wigan. The person who met up with him a second later was none other than the Prime Minister for Magic, Mr Eric Cornel, and after him was Minister Cornelius Fudge.

"The Forbidden Forest is quite a dangerous part of Hogwarts," said Cornel, panting. Harry, Liam and Venus watched through the opened window. "No one would dare enter it if they knew what was good for them."

"I did ... we did," said Mr Clark. "It was the coolest place to be for me and Venus, we never feared this place at all. He's more than likely to be hiding somewhere in there."

"Are you sure he's not in those two oafs's hut?" asked Fudge. He turned toward the hut to look through the window, but Mr Clark pulled him back.

"Yes —" said Mr Clark, grabbing Fudge to look at him, "we checked there earlier ... this is your only opportunity to lock Venus up. What would the public say if you hadn't done what you had promised? They'd elect new people for your jobs. I always liked you two, but they might not after letting him slip, today ..."

There was a moment's silence. Fudge and Cornel looked at each other, and then sighed moments later.

"If you say so, Thomas ... lead the way," said Prime Minister Cornel.

"What are they doing? Trying to get themselves killed?" asked Liam.

"No, he's creating a diversion," said Venus as they watched the mass of people disappear, one by one, into the darkness of the forest. "I think he realised now that I can't get out of this without running, like I always have been."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Harry.

There was another quick moment of silence, before Venus had a quick eureka moment.

"Dumbledore and Glumberry's protective barrier for the school doesn't reach to other side of that lake the first-years have to cross," said Venus. "If we can get there, I can row myself to the other side and make a quick getaway."

"All right, we just need to reach the lake —"

"Err ... boys ... I appreciate the help ... really, I do ... but maybe I should do this on my own ... they're looking for me, not you, and you two can get seriously injured ..."

"We're coming with," said Liam.

"We were told of the consequences," said Harry. "If we ignored them once, we'll ignore them again."

Venus stood, looking at them, unaware of what to say.

"Standing there is just going to make your situation more dire," said Liam with a cheeky smile on.

He still stared at them, wanting to smile and laugh, yet bind them to a chair at the same time. He didn't want to bring them into this.

"I —"

"We're coming, Venus, now let's go before they come back," said Liam. Before he could say anything, Liam and Harry went to the the door and opened it, checking if, perhaps, someone was standing in search of a passing Venus Sting. When the coast was found clear, they ran, Venus speeding after, however reluctantly.

Some parts of the castle was still lit, despite it being past bed time. Harry and Liam remembered that soon after this, after they aided Venus to his freedom, they were going to have to sit through a couple of hours of lectures from their Chamber of Secrets mission to save Ginny. They wondered what had happened to Callum and Ron. Had they been spotted out or were they still leading his parents and the professor astray?

"Hey! Over here!" yelled a gruff voice from close by.

"Oh no!" said Liam, as they reached the castle and ran past it. "We've got to hurry."

"What's going on up there!" yelled another voice.

"Send the signal ... we've found him!" said the first man. "Send some people with me. He's heading this way!"

The three of them kept running, even though the men from the Ministry were all still busy with other things. A moment later, something was shot into the sky and exploded into a mass of white fire. It looked as though the moon had blown up and lit the sky up. More and more lights appeared from the castle; silhouettes of children and students were pressed against them.

"What is that?" asked Liam about the white explosion on the sky.

"It means my doom," said Venus. "Come on!"

They were close to the lake, it was only a couple of metres away; they could see the boats swaying and crashing against the grassy shore. They ran faster when this came into sight, they knew they only had a limited time to set Venus off in a boat. But Venus pulled Harry and Liam back.

"What are you doing?" asked Harry and Liam in unison.

"Go back to the castle," said Venus.

"What? No!"

"Go back to the castle, I'll be fine. You two have done enough for me," said Venus.

"Venus, we're not leaving you —"

"Look, the more you two stand here, the less a chance I get to escape ... go back to the castle," said Venus.

Harry and Liam stumbled back.

"Just remember, I would never intentionally harm you," said Venus. "But I can't do anything to prevent this pursuit. It's going to be my life, now. I may never get the chance to see you again, but just know this ... it was a pleasure to finally meet the two of you in person. I could never have asked to be anyone else's godfather. It pleases me to know that you know the truth. If this marks our last meeting together, I'm glad you two at least know I'm innocent."

With one last smile, Venus sped off toward the boats. Harry and Liam didn't want to leave, in fact they stood there, just to watch him leave in peace without being spotted by the Ministry. He was fumbling for the ropes when something happened that made their hearts sink: one by one, with a pop each time, a person from the Ministry or member of the Hogwarts staff appeared out of nowhere. Venus stumbled to the ground with his hands in the air.

"STOP AT ONCE!"

It was the distinctive voice of Prime Minister Eric Cornel, who was most probably in the front. Harry and Liam chose to act now, before the crowd became too thick to squeezed through. They ran into the group of people with their wands pointed at Sting, weaving through wizards and witches and trying to avoid bumping into those who were just arriving. They could at least see Venus, who was fumbling back onto his feet.

"Venus Sting, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of William Clark and for escaping Kazaban Prison," said Cornel as they were approaching. "You will placed in a secure cell alone until further punishment is confirmed. If you are armed with a weapon, please place it on the ground immediately."

They could see Venus slowly pulling out his wand and could feel how stiff the crowd went when he had done so; they were ready to act if needed to. Venus placed his wand on the ground and straightened himself up.

Cornel gestured for someone to seize Venus, just as Harry and Liam pushed past him and plunged themselves in front of the trembling fugitive, arms wide and chests out. The crowd broke into murmurs, and Cornel looked particularly shocked.

"What in the name of Merlin is going on here?" asked Cornel.

"Venus is innocent!" spat Liam.

"No he's not, Liam, he's a ruthless, cold-blooded killer!" said Cornel. "Step away from him, he could kill you any minute, now."

"So why hasn't he done it, yet?" asked Liam. No one replied. He looked around for anyone to give him a proper reason, and then he looked right back at Cornel. "Surely ruthless, cold-blooded killers wouldn't care about going back to jail. Surely he would've killed me by now if that was his intention, but it's not. Venus — is — innocent."

At this stage Mr and Mrs Clark had fought their way to the front, stopping immediately when they had seen Liam and Harry in front of Venus.

"Get out of the way, boys, this isn't your fight," said Fudge.

"It revolves around me, therefore, it is my fight," said Liam. "And I'm sure the two people who survived Lord Voldemort and Valindor won't be afraid of a few wands."

There was a resounding gasp as the entire crowd winced from the names. Liam and Harry prevented themselves from smiling, but they did not prevent the dogged way they stood. Proud of what they had done they both stared directly at Cornel.

"If you want to get to him, you're gonna have to go through us first," said Liam.

For a moment Cornel looked defeated. He stood, frowning, with his wand pointed directly at Venus. And then he turned to Mr and Mrs Clark.

"This is ridiculous! Are you going to let this stand?" Cornel asked.

"Yes, actually, I am," said Mr Clark, who, with a smile, took his wife by her hand and led her to Venus, Liam and Harry. Together they stood, one next to the other, creating a wall to protect Venus. "Why? Because Venus is my friend. And one of the best ones I have ever had. I couldn't believe he had done what you think he did, but it turns out I didn't have to. Venus is innocent. We, the family who he supposedly targeted, believe that ... so why don't you?"

Heads turned to face each other, murmurs broke out at once, and Cornel lowered his wand.

"You know, I don't even think Venus even had a trial. You all assumed he killed all those people. Had it ever occurred to you that someone may have taken his wand, committed the crime and then gave it back to him?" asked Mr Clark. "No, I bet you didn't. Venus doesn't go to jail unless you prove to us that he's guilty. And we will stop at nothing to ensure he walks a free man."

The crowd fell silent. People now turned to face Cornel. Some threw him faces that told him not to do this, others put on expressions that said it was only fair. Cornel thought. Every other one of the Dark Lords' followers had a trail, but he was sent to jail on the dot. It was unfair.

"Fine! Sting will be trialled. The dates will be arranged, but until then, he will be put in a holding cell until this has been done."


	16. Dobby's Reward

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Dobby's Reward

"I think Venus having a trial is fair," said Mr Clark as he, Liam, Harry and his wife walked into the Hogwarts castle. They were all following Mr Clark, although not paying any attention to where they were going.

"There's only one problem ... yeah, there might not be any evidence placing Venus as the killer, but there also isn't any evidence proving Venus didn't do it," said Liam.

"Liam, your parents have never needed proof to prove anything," said Mr Clark. "Now ..." He took both Liam and Harry by the shoulders and directed them to the stone gargoyle that led to Dumbledore and Glumberry's office. "We would all like to know what you two were doing in the Chamber of Secrets ... Sherbet Lemon."

Harry and Liam shut their eyes. They forgot all about that. An uncomfortable sensation erupted from the pits of their stomachs. If they thought they were in trouble then, locked up waiting in the Headmasters' office, they only knew the worse now.

The gargoyle jumped aside and they found a step each as the stairs ascended to their imminent doom. Expulsion, they thought. Definitely expulsion. Mr Clark opened the wide oak doors to the Headmasters' office, and in there they stood, behind their desk talking to McGonagall and McDonald as Mr and Mrs Weasley were giving Ron and Callum a stern talking to. The past headmasters and headmistresses were back on their frames, immobile and still.

Every set of eyes turned to the two twelve year olds, both still drenched in sweat, blood and oozing black ink. After tonight's events they did not want to revisit what happened moments before chasing after Venus.

"Arthur, Molly, mind we borrow your son and Mr Thompson?" asked Professor Glumberry.

"Have a seat boys," said Dumbledore, gesturing the seats in front of him.

As Liam, Harry, Callum and Ron made their way to the seats placed in front of Dumbledore and Glumberry, Professor McGonagall took matters into her own hand.

"Have you any idea the amount of rules you four have broken tonight!" the four boys lowered their heads. "... and how dangerous your little crusade was —"

"Thank you, Minerva," said Dumbledore, raising a hand. "Should you need to permit any further punishment for their certainly unpunishable actions, you have every right to do so later. Just take into account that we do not think these actions are necessary as we wish to commend these four boys rather than to punish them."

They raised their heads. Commend them? For breaking possibly every rule Hogwarts had to offer?

"Excuse me, sir, pardon me for asking but did you just say commend us for our actions?" asked Liam.

"Indeed I did, Mr Clark," said Dumbledore.

Liam looked at Harry, who looked at him. Both knew that the other was thinking the exact same thing, that Mr and Mrs Clark may have had something to do with this. After a moment they turned around to face Mr and Mrs Clark, both of whom had shocked faces as they did. Mr Clark shrugged, making it quite clear to them that they had not said anything to convince the Headmasters of the four boys' innocence, even though he, himself, was there before they had slide down the Chamber of Secrets.

"Professor Dumbledore and I have done a lot of thinking in our long pursue after Venus Sting's freedom," said Professor Glumberry. "Had you four not gone down to the Chamber of Secrets we would have lost a person very dear to us. Despite breaking the rules, you save Ginny Weasley even risking your own life in the face of the basilisk, I believe it was."

"And even after promising to not get away or pull something funny to Mr Weasley, you had prevented the imprisonment of an innocent man," said Professor Dumbledore. "Had it not been for the four of you, two innocent people would have been gone. And I can't stop to imagine what would have happened to Venus if perhaps he was caught and found guilty for his actions. A fate worse than death, I assume."

"Why yes, I do believe," said Glumberry, eyes glazed; Mr and Mrs Clark both looked at each other and looked nearly relieved. "Now, we have done our part. We ask of you to do yours. What really happened? How did you find the area. I think we'd all like to know that."

With this sudden feeling of relief washing over them, Harry, Liam, Ron and Callum took turns in explaining what exactly happened. Everything that had to do with the Chamber of Secrets ... everything that had to do with Venus Sting ... all of it was expressed that very moment. Hermione and Tessa finding the library book page about the Basilisk, identifying the terrible beast that yearned for Harry and Liam's blood today. Them planning to pursue this dangerous quest, although knowing fully that their lives might end the very moment they stepped foot in that Chamber. And then right to the point where Lockhart was a big phoney and was the reason he was the looney nutcase that was rambling aimlessly about the sword Harry and Liam returned with.

They also explained the night Venus Sting came to tell them both the truth, as well as clarifying it to his long lost best friends.

"How did you manage to stay alive?" asked McDonald. She stood stiffly, as though the answer was going to scar her for life.

Harry and Liam looked at each other, and then looked at Ron and Callum. After their brief exchanges, all four stared at the headmasters and spoke. Spoke about the way into the Chamber. About how Ron, Callum and Lockhart — who aimlessly tried to stab the fire with a fire poker when his talk about the sword got boring — got separated from Harry and Liam, who followed the trail into the gloomy green light of the actual chamber itself. Then they went onto explaining Tom Riddle and Henry Nord, whose actual name turned out to be Louis, and how they had to defeated the Basilisk before anything else. They hesitated to explain the diary and Ginny. Again, Liam and Harry looked at each other. It was something that was becoming a usual thing when they needed to conspire amongst themselves, even though it passed on no trail of thought to each other.

"The diary, though —" Harry stopped himself. He couldn't go through with it all. Ginny, no matter how innocent she may seem now that she was weeping, could be expelled after this. She could be sent off the Hogwarts ground and never return.

"The diary —" Liam stopped. Harry felt an ounce of relief when he heard Liam speak because he knew the burden would not be left to him, but hearing him stop left a whole different sensation in him. He saw Liam look at Ginny, whose face was polished in tears. Liam shut his eyes and his mouth and paused for a moment, then he looked back up to speak. "The diary —"

"Was the Dark Lords' source of enchanting Ginny?" asked Dumbledore. Harry's and Liam's necks snapped up, looking at the two headmasters as they leaned back on their chairs, a smile on their faces. Liam and Harry opened their mouths to ask the same question when, "Oh boys, we know a lot more than you think."

"We don't know all the details but we do know that Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor managed to enchant Ginny to reek havoc in the school halls. We didn't know how since our sources tell us that Lord Voldemort is still in hiding in the forests of Albania. Lord Valindor still searching for his whereabouts ... well, apparently he was in Hogwarts at the time ... unless he, too, was just a memory?"

"He was —" Liam was suddenly spitting out words as though possessed to do so. He continued doing it. "He said he'd done the same thing to a poor little boy. He succeeded in taking his life, though." Liam fell silent again. He stared at the desk as though his sockets entrapped his eyes, restraining them from doing anything but stare. "I guess he wasn't a memory, then. Unless he was and that boy he killed isn't really dead."

"However the dark lords may come back will remain an incomplete mystery to us, Mr Clark. I'm afraid there's always an anomaly to all of this," said Professor Dumbledore, catching Liam's attention.

"All of it has to add up, though, doesn't it?" asked Liam. "I mean. Last year, Valindor tried coming back and killing me through Nathan Donovan. Harry said Voldemort tried something similar except through that Quirrell guy. This year their memories try to suck the life out of people in order to restore full humanity — or physical appearance of a human, anyway — but this isn't just about coming back, is it? Returning to the destruction of their reign? There's something more ... I know it ..."

Nobody answered him. There was just silence. An uncomfortable silence. It made Liam feel wrong, as though his entire idea was absurd. But then he heard laughter. Dumbledore and Glumberry's laughter. Both beards bobbing as they savoured the moment, despite it being daunting for the four boys that sat before them. A sight they'd never seen before. A sight they supposed was seldom seen; McGonagall and McDonald frowned at it.

"Oh, the amazingly bright ideas you have, Mr Clark, are very well thought out," said Professor Glumberry, a wide smile on his face. "Unfortunately, we cannot justify any of this. Your anomaly, a very bright one, will remain an anomaly until something comes up, explaining it all."

"We have nothing to do with the facts we have until others signs turn up," said Dumbledore. "If it were perhaps only one of the Dark Lords, then all of this would have made sense. Considering the companionship of Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor, we have no way to link up all these pieces."

"What pieces?" asked Harry. He didn't understand what Glumberry and Dumbledore were speaking about. He was quite sure the others didn't, too.

"Why, the diary, of course. Ginny being enchanted. Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor becoming partners once more, even despite Voldemort being in a weak condition somewhere in the depths of the Albanian forests," said Glumberry. He looked at Liam. "We said we wouldn't surely know about the full intentions of the Dark Lords, Liam, but your conspiracy could very well be correct. They could be after more than the return of their perilous reign."

"You really think they could be after something more?" asked Liam. He looked around to Harry, as though the answer to this would pop up in the gleam of his eyes.

"Of course we believe that," said Dumbledore, peering at the four boys through his half-moon spectacles. "At the moment, it is probably the only thing that makes sense. Little people know that both Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor were once students at Hogwarts."

"Excuse me?" asked Mrs Clark. "When?"

"Before we became Headmasters. Fifty years ago," said Glumberry. "Both were prefects. In Slytherin, of course. Lord Voldemort, or must I say Tom Riddle, became Head Boy. Louis Nord did not envy him and now since they have become who they are, we have figured out why. Their intentions to become the Dark Lords were too strong to taint their relationship. They travelled the world together after they left the school ... searched what they could ... ventured too deep into the Dark Arts ... dabbled in various things ... we couldn't recognise who we knew for so long ... who we thought we knew, anyway."

"But what about that diary?" asked Mrs Weasley, her voice clearing from her cries of joy. "You said it was a way to enchant our little Ginny? How?"

"I've been writing in it," said Ginny, wiping her eyes. "I've been writing in that diary! Telling it about the entire year! It wrote back to me."

"You wrote in the diar—" Mr Weasley cut himself off. And then he was on his haunches, face levelled with Ginny's. His stern eyes tore through her tears. "What do I always say? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. You should've shown the diary to your mother and I. It was obviously full of Dark Magic —"

"Mr Weasley, if you don't mind taking your daughter to the hospital wing," said Dumbledore in a firm voice. "Terrifying moments like these cannot go without being tended to. A simple check up is the matter. Nothing more. And I think you would be glad to know, Ms Weasley, that there will be no punishment. Some of the brightest wizards have been through the Dark Lords' trickery and deceit."

Both wizards stood. Glumberry made his way to the door and opened it wide, and then said, "I think some rest would do. Tell the matrons that a special request for hot chocolate is required." He looked directly at Ginny, smiling. "Madam Pomfrey and Madam Madison should be awake, dishing out the Mandrake juice to the basilisk's victims. They should be waking up any moment."

"So Hermione will be okay!" shouted Ron.

"Oh no ..." grouched Liam, sinking into his arms.

"Do not worry, Ginny," said Dumbledore from behind the desk. His hands clasped behind his back. "Everything will be all right."

Mr and Mrs Weasley stared at both headmasters before they both whisked Ginny out the oak doors. Mr Weasley seemed to be shaking as he left.

"Mr and Mrs Clark, I do think you should assist Madam Pomfrey and Madam Madison as they give out the Mandrake Draught. You two are certainly more adept at medical situations than anyone we've ever seen," continued Dumbledore. He still held the door open. A smile written across his face. "They will need assisting now that they will be tending to Ms Weasley and ..." His eyes flew to Lockhart, who was trying to find a way to touch the fire without burning himself. "Take Mr Lockhart with you."

"Sure ..." said Mr Clark. He went over to Lockhart, cautiously. The four boys had to refrain themselves from laughing at his expression. Mr Clark seemed worried, or disgusted. They couldn't tell, but whatever he thought almost made him tumble over himself whilst on his way there. "Come on, Gilderoy. Let's go to a safer place."

"Safer place?" shouted Lockhart. "Great Scotland Yard! This isn't a safe place."

"No! No! No!" Mr Clark grabbed Lockhart by the shoulders before he could cause any harm. Especially with the fire poker near him. "This is a very safe place. We just want to take you to a safer place. Don't you want that, Gilderoy? Don't you want to be in a safe place?"

"My name's Gilderoy?" asked Lockhart. Mr Clark began to drag him away. "What kind of name is Gilderoy?"

"Come on, Gilderoy, let's go ..." When Mr Clark approached his wife — who had a similar expression on her face — they looked at each other. "I think we ought to put him under extreme sedatives ... I don't think there will be much to do for him in this condition ..."

"What does that mean?" asked Liam.

Mr Clark smiled at his son. "It means he's gone completely bonkers, what else?" Liam and Harry — who caught it, too — started to laugh; Mr Clark added a pair of screwed up eyes as he said 'bonkers'.

Mrs Clark smacked him on the arm. "Thomas!"

"Calm down," he said, "only brightening the mood, is all." He winked at Liam and Harry. And then he turned to his wife's frowning face. "What?"

She started to slowly shake his head. "It's a wonder how I found you attractive."

"You just did." He didn't frown or find any of that serious. He kept smiling. "Besides, you aren't any different either. Little Red."

Mrs Clark was left speechless. She watched with a smile as her husband was off, snickering. Almost mesmerised. Her head started to shake again.

"You better be off before your head swings right off your neck," Liam said to his mom. She looked at him. The same look she had on for Mr Clark was displayed for him, only her smile grew bigger.

She pinched his cheeks. "You're so much like your father."

"Mum!" Although smiling, Liam shook his mom off.

Harry smiled at the scene. It was something heartwarming. It wasn't so long until he noticed that the look Mrs Clark had on went to him. And when it had he fell silent. Frozen. What was he supposed to do? Someone he should know so well was unfortunately all too foreign to him. He swallowed hard. An uncomfortable sensation was eating away at the depths of his stomach. Then he felt his hair being ruffled.

"Slap a smile on, Harry," said his aunt. "Frowns aren't permitted in the family."

He did so. He smiled. He smiled at the stranger that stood before him. At the woman who seemed to have welcomed him the minute she knew he was the son of her brother. Her nephew. His aunt. He realised for several days that he now had family. But he didn't take it in. He didn't take in the fact that he had an aunt. That he had an uncle. That he had a cousin. A cousin that never left his side. And at that his smile seemed to grow wider.

The next thing he knew his aunt was on her knees, looking directly at him. His ever-growing smile seemed to be widening hers.

"You know, that invitation to come live with us still lives," said Mrs Clark. "Think about it?"

"Yeah. Of course," said Harry.

"Come on, Angie, what's the hold up?" asked Mr Clark. His head was popping out from the door.

"Coming!" she said. Then she stood, her gaze never leaving Harry. Her smile still fresh and wide. "Your uncle is the Duke of Impatience."

Harry laughed, and he realised that Liam was too.

"That is not true," said Mr Clark. "Besides, you're one to talk, Madam!"

"All right ..." said Mrs Clark. She stared between the two boys sitting before her. Her smile, although disappearing, was as warm as her. "I've got to go try and save a mental patient."

"Told you you're like me," said Mr Clark.

"Go along, you big oaf! I'm coming!" Mrs Clark said to her husband. When Mr Clark had left, Mrs Clark looked directly at Harry. And then she put on a stern look. Harry would've found that as a sign of trouble if she hadn't still been smiling. "I'm expecting an answer, Mister. Everybody knows not to leave a Clark hanging."

"Okay."

And then she was off. Liam and Harry watched her go. The smiles on their faces radiating after her. When she was gone, Harry said, "Your parents are so fun!"

"Tell me about it."

"Such great festivities, don't you think, Minerva? Elaine?" asked Glumberry. His own smile on. "I do say that whole scene has indeed filled me up with great joy. I'd also rather say I'm quite hungry after it, too. Mind you ask the kitchens to prepare something for the school?"

"Of course," said Professor McDonald. "Let us go, Minerva."

The two professors left, and Glumberry finally shut the door.

"Now, boys," said Glumberry, his voice stern. It made them doubt the fact that they would not be getting any punishments. "As promised, no punishment will be permitted. I think Special Awards for Services to the School and — let me see — yes, I think hundred points apiece for Gryffindor. Agreed?"

"Why, yes," said Dumbledore. "That should be suitable, don't you think, boys? Now Mr Thompson, Mr Weasley, these are a few papers concerning the return of our gatekeepers. Go up to the owl post and owl this to the Ministry of Magic. I'm sure we all want dear Dreagon and Hagrid back, don't we?"

Dumbledore held out a couple of papers to Ron and Callum. His face was titled down, which made them think that this was very urgent. Callum stood, took the papers and pulled Ron up to his feet. Callum and Ron then fumbled off through the headmasters' office and out the door that Glumberry held open. Then Glumberry made his way back to the desk.

"Now, down to the real matter," said Glumberry. Dumbledore sat and Glumberry began to strolled back into his seat. "We thank you, boys. We thank you because the only way Fawkes could have come to you is if you showed either me or Dumbledore great loyalty."

"But the real matter, of course, is the fact the two of you met Tom Riddle and Louis Nord," said Dumbledore, bringing his hands together. "They had to have been very anxious to meet the two of you, I'm sure?"

Then the most uncomfortable feeling irked Harry, and he was sure that if he said it, it would begin to trouble Liam as well.

"Professors, Voldemort and Valindor said that we're alike them in a way," said Harry. Liam looked at him, but Harry did not look at him back. He expected to see the same looming irritation in his eyes.

"Did they?" asked Glumberry. "Why?"

"We're both a Parselmouth, sir," said Liam. "I was put into Scorpiosting last year, instead of Phoenixdan."

"And the Sorting Hat considered putting me into Slytherin ..."

"And were you put in Slytherin?" asked Dumbledore.

"No ..."

"And Liam, you asked to switch houses. Had you not then you would still be in Scorpiosting ... Slytherin, now, I guess," continued Dumbledore.

"But what does that matter?"

"A lot more than you think, Liam," said Glumberry. "There's the difference between you two and the Dark Lords. You two chose to be in Gryffindor. Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor chose to be in Slytherin. They chose the path of evil and now they lay despondent."

"But that doesn't explain why we can speak Parseltongue," said Harry.

"Simple. Those scars are the reason you two can speak Parseltongue," said Dumbledore. "We believe that they may have transferred some of their abilities into the two of you the night on October 31st. Thus your ability to speak Parseltongue is all but natural to you."

"A bit of the Dark Lords live in each of you," said Glumberry. "And no, you need not think that you are anything alike Tom Riddle or Louis Nord. You two are your own persons and you are both dependant on the choices you make, independently."

"Any clarification that you two are indeed Gryffindors can be seen through this," said Dumbledore, pulling on the hilt of the long sword brought to them by Fawkes. The light seemed to glare at the rubies on the hilt, making the sword itself seem more But the words the shun just below the hilt is what caught their attention:

Godric Gryffindor

"Only a pure Gryffindor would managed to pull this out of the hat," said Glumberry. "Believe you're a Gryffindor now?"

"Now, both of you should be incredibly tired and hungry. What you need is food, so hurry along out of here and make it in time for the feast," said Dumbledore. "We can't guarantee food for those who come late."

Harry and Liam stood, but not a second after did the doors burst wide open. Lucius Malfoy, pursued by Dobby the house elf and his apparent dear friend, Luca McElroy. Both had a very disappointed expression on their faces.

"So you two have indeed returned," said Mr Malfoy.

"Well, after the Ministry grabbed that Ginny Weasley might be dead and that Venus Sting had arrived on the school grounds, the governors all agreed that we were fit to handle the situation at hand," said Glumberry.

"We also do recall them saying, when they contacted us, that you threatened to curse their families if they hadn't all agreed to have us taken away," said Dumbledore.

"Did you manage to catch the culprit?" interrupted Mr McElroy.

"Yes. It was none other than Lord Voldemort and Lord Valindor."

"The Dark Lords?" asked Mr Malfoy. "How?"

"The simple means of this diary," said Glumberry, holding up the holed book. Dobby jumped around, catching Harry's attention. He was pointing at the diary, and then to Mr Malfoy, then the elf knocked himself silly with his fists. "Lord Voldemort managed to take control over somebody else, though."

"Interesting ..." said Mr Malfoy.

"It was a very smart plan," said Dumbledore. "If Harry, Liam and their friends, Ron and Callum had not found the likes of this diary, then poor Ginny would have taken the blame." Dobby repeated his odd movements; pointing at the diary, then Mr Malfoy, then balling his fists in order to bang his head.

"I see," said Mr Malfoy. "Very fortunate for Ms Weasley."

Dobby repeated once again, this time Harry understood what he was trying to say.

"How did she come across the diary?" asked Mr McElroy, who was silent up until this point.

"Mr Malfoy, of course," said Harry. Liam, with furrowed eyebrows, eyed Harry. Mr Malfoy glared at him.

"Why on earth would you think I gave her the diary?" asked Mr Malfoy. "And when, may I ask, did I do it?"

"Flourish and Blotts," said Harry. "You picked up her old Transfiguration book and slipped the diary in with it."

"Prove it ..."

"That isn't necessary, Lucius," said Mr McElroy. "Come now, we have more important business to attend to."

"Lucius," called out Glumberry. "Let us hope none of Tom Riddle's belongings finds its way to innocent hands. Louis Nord's, too, should you happen to come across something of the sorts.

"Come, Lucius," said Mr McElroy.

"Dobby, we're leaving," said Mr Malfoy, kicking the elf with a start.

Mr Malfoy and Mr McElroy left the room, the elf stumbling after them. Harry turned back to Dumbledore and Glumberry.

"Do you mind if I have the diary?" asked Harry.

"Not at all," said Dumbledore.

"Harry!" called out Liam. Too late, Harry stood and ran after them. Liam looked back at the Headmasters, and then ran after them himself. He saw his cousin come to a halt, and then slip off his sock. "Harry, what on earth are you doing?"

Harry did not reply. He sped off again, slipping his sock into the diary. Liam put all his efforts into catching up to his cousin.

"Mr Malfoy! Mr Malfoy! Wait!" They turned into another corridor. Mr Malfoy and Mr McElroy were already making their way down the stairs, Dobby following suit. They stopped at Harry's call, and Harry began to speak once more, holding out the diary. "I do believe this belongs to you, Mr Malfoy."

Harry handed Mr Malfoy the diary, and immediately he saw the sock through the hole in the middle. He pulled it out and threw it aside.

"What game are you playing here, boy?" asked Mr Malfoy, disgusted at what he found inside the diary. "Someday, you watch, you'll meet the same sticky end as your parents did. Come, Dobby, let's go."

"A sock," said the elf in disbelief.

"What?" Mr Malfoy stared at the small creature that now held Harry's smelly sock.

"Master has presented Dobby a sock," said Dobby. Harry smiled. Liam stood, baffled and Mr Malfoy stared, in shock, between Harry and Dobby. "Dobby is free."

"You –" Mr Malfoy fastened his hands around the cuff of Harry's shirt. Liam tried separating the two, but the strength of the older man pushed him aside. "You lost me my servant, boy! You –" Mr Malfoy's other hand brought his wand to Harry's face.

"Lucius!" called Mr McElroy, but even he couldn't stop him.

But before anything else, Lucius Malfoy found himself thrown across the floor with a loud BANG! Dobby stood in between him and Harry, hands held up.

"You shall not hurt Harry Potter!" the elf yelled.

Mr Malfoy shot right up, but his hand was taken by his friend.

"Lucius," said Mr McElroy. "Two twelve year old boys are not worth our time. Besides, you wouldn't be doing yourself any favours. It's just a slave, you can get another one! Let's go!"

Dobby still stood in between Mr Malfoy and Harry. His chest was out, trying to give himself a tough stance, despite him being shorter than Harry himself. Then Mr Malfoy and Mr McElroy raced down the stairs, not another word said.

"Harry Potter freed Dobby," said the elf. His tennis ball eyes reflecting the moonlight outside. "Harry Potter set Dobby free."

"William Clark still quite confused about what Harry Potter did," said Liam. Harry laughed.

"You remember. House elves can only be set free if their master presents them with a piece of clothing, hence the sock."

"Oh ... right," said Liam.

Harry felt himself being tackled. The elf had thrown his arms around Harry's middle, making him stumble a few steps back.

"Harry Potter is far better than Dobby realised," said Dobby. "Farewell, Harry Potter."

With a loud crack, the elf disappeared.

"Nice little creature, Dobby is," said Liam.

"Yeah ... we better be off. The feast is about to start. Hermione and Tessa should be up by now," said Harry.

"And so begins the mockery," sighed Liam. "Well, I guess this was an eventful school year, like last year. Almost got killed again ... something I have to try an avoid next year ... I don't want it becoming an annual trend. But among that all, I found out that I have a cousin."

"Someone you can relate to," said Harry.

"Yeah," said Liam. "Someone I can relate to. I hoped for that at the beginning of the year. My dad told me that he didn't mind being that someone ... someone like you, I guess. Of course, he's my dad and he's always working, so I didn't want to put the pressure of having to play around with me as well ... at least I have you, now."

"Yeah." Up until this point, Harry hadn't noticed that Liam was his wish come true. Earlier this year, before even meeting Dobby, Harry wished he had someone to talk to. To have a family that accepted him. Now he had one. Now he had the Clarks.


End file.
